


Enemy of my Enemy

by Merci



Category: Onimusha
Genre: Ancient History, Angst, Drama, Dubious Consent, Explicit Sexual Content, Japan, M/M, POV First Person, Violence, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-04-22
Updated: 2005-04-21
Packaged: 2017-10-16 21:06:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 51,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/169348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merci/pseuds/Merci
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kotaro is bored on his mission to scout out Nobunaga’s position.  He decides to spend his time spying on the other warriors gathering in Imasho and possibly strike up alliances with them, *once* he discovers where their loyalties lie.  The ambitions of one warrior prove to be a challenge and Kotaro finds himself becoming more and more infatuated with him as he tries to uncover the truth.  What could this man from Saiga have planned for the young Fuma ninja?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** I do not own Magoichi, Kotaro, Oyu, Gogandantess, or Onimusha. I am making no profit from this fanfiction.
> 
> This has been brought about by the utter lack of Onimusha yaoi out there and the fact that I can't get Magoichi out of my mind. For those interested, I have pictures of both [Kotaro](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/merci/lj/etchedindigital/kotaro.jpg) and [Magoichi](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/merci/lj/etchedindigital/magoichi.jpg) for your reference.
> 
> Story told from Kotaro's POV.

I was bored. That was probably what had started it all. My mission in Imasho was to gather information on the position of Nobunaga's troops and ultimately what those demons were planning. Missions like that are no challenge for a ninja like me and after a short time I had gathered all the information I could and was growing bored as I waited for my next opportunity. The time to attack Nobunaga, the leader of the Oda clan, was too far off for me to worry about, so I spent most of my time at the town bar, just lazing about in front of the fire on the upper level. Some days I had fun starting trouble with a group of local thugs, showing them up at their own game and returning their stolen property to the rightful owners. There were many interesting characters gathering in town as well and I spied on each of them to find out exactly why they were there. The reason for any of them to be there didn’t really matter, I suppose, but I was just so bored! I knew that a samurai named Jubei Yagyu would show up eventually and I spied, in part, to keep an eye out for him. I had watched him walking amongst the ruins of his village after Nobunaga’s demon troops had decimated it and something told me that his mission would be the same as mine; to destroy Nobunaga before he gained any more power. I was sure that I could form some sort of alliance with him when he arrived in Imasho, the waiting was what was making me impatient. I busied myself watching a monk named Ekei who seemed to like liquor and women a bit too much. From what I could gather he was pretty shady and his ambitions dictated whom he served. For all I knew he was there to offer his services to Nobunaga for a position of power. I kept a close eye on him for a while until my attention was drawn by another warrior who appeared in town. There was something very striking about him and I forgot all about Ekei as I secretly watched this newcomer. Finding out that this man was the captain of the Saiga gun team was easy enough, but as for knowing his reason for being there… well, it seemed that he was on some sort of scouting mission too. This man, Magoichi Saiga, wasn’t nearly as skilled as me at keeping out of sight, but he could cover his tracks well enough to keep me in the dark. He was a very frustrating man but that only increased my interest in him. What reason could he have to be in Imasho if not for Nobunaga? This man would either be an ally to me or an enemy and I intended to discover what it would be, even if it took a week of constant spying.

+++

It wasn’t until several days later that Jubei arrived in town and nearly all of my time had been spent watching Magoichi drink sake and visit the shadier areas of Imasho. I still wasn't sure about the gunman and was entertaining the idea of just walking up to him and asking what he was doing there. I had just alleviated several pickpockets of their prize and was resting on the upper level of the bar when the Yagyu samurai found me. Well, actually the pickpockets found me first and I was having a bit of fun with them. I would have taken care of them myself but Jubei stepped in and took them all out with blinding speed before I could do anything. Sure, I was impressed, but I didn’t want to give him the impression that I couldn’t have handled it myself. I thanked him and would have proposed an alliance between us right then and there but he had begun to lecture me on how to behave while on a scouting mission and I changed my mind. I knew what I was doing! I mean, I knew I probably shouldn’t have been brawling out in the open, but it’s not like Nobunaga would see me taking care of a few petty thieves! Either way, he had no place telling me how to spy on Nobunaga, even if he did have more experience than me and was probably right. I held my tongue and headed back up to my spot above the bar, angrily pulling out a kunai as I sat down and began sharpening it by the fire. I’d barely begun when I heard his heavy footsteps on the stairs. He probably didn't understand how his words had struck me and I hid my irritation from him. I took my responsibilities as the chief of the Fuma clan very seriously, but I knew enough not to compromise my mission. I was just so bored and had only wanted to have a little fun. I didn't need him telling me how to behave.

I think I hid my anger quite well when he approached me to talk again. I continued sharpening my kunai while I half-listened to him talk about something or other. It was out of spite, I suppose, that I ignored him, but even my thoughts of indignation vanished from my mind when he handed me a globe. My hand closed around its cool exterior, feeling the ridges carved into the wooden sphere that defined the oceans surrounding the oddly shaped masses of land. I took in its beautifully painted surface, elevated and coloured to stand out against one another and my mind wondered at the vastness of the world that this tiny globe represented. I'd never seen anything like it in my life and I fumbled in my pack to find something that Jubei might like in return. A special healing pack met my hand and I pulled it out, quickly thrusting it into his hands and hoping he would find it as useful as I found my globe interesting.

+++

He came to visit me often after that. Mainly to trade but sometimes he inquired into anything that I’d heard around town. Mainly what I knew was about Magoichi, who I’d decided to spy on whenever I got the chance. It might have been a bit extreme, but my skills are so good that he wouldn’t know if I was following him or not. I didn’t tell Jubei anything about Magoichi, however, since I barely had any information on the mysterious gunman to begin with. It didn’t seem to matter to Jubei either way, since he was content trading with me and I began to wonder where he was finding so many neat, foreign things that he was happy to give away for healing potions and herbs. Could there be other places in town where I could find things to suit my curiosity? He’d traded me a book of fairytales that I had, at first, thought to be nothing but a boring book. Of course, when I again found myself at a loose end I flipped through it and discovered several stories that I remembered from childhood. It really was very interesting and I read it several times through before I found the stories to be too repetitive. I’d seen that Jubei had several other books in his pack and wondered if they would be as interesting at the fairytale book had been. I needed something that would engage my mind for longer than the world globe ever could. I mean, things like that still interested me, but reality was becoming too much of a pain and I was happy to have something to distract me. Besides, I suspected that Magoichi was aware of how closely I had been following him and it would be good to lay low for a while anyways. I’m a good ninja, but my instincts told me to back off, so perhaps reading by myself would be a good thing after all.

+++

I quietly crept down the stairs into the lower bar area, my eyes darting around quickly to see if Jubei was in. I spotted him over at a table talking to Magoichi and my ninja skills automatically kicked in as I ducked out of sight to watch them. I was happy to have something to do, even if it was something as frivolous as spying on an ally. I paid close attention to Magoichi, trying to glean any more information on the man just by watching his body language. It was obvious that he was sharp as well as strong and he could easily take care of himself in a fight, even if he did prefer to use those big, bulky guns instead of bladed weapons. He would be a tough opponent to beat, if it came to that, but I knew I could defeat him in the end, my skills being top among the Fuma clan.

He leaned back in his chair as he talked to Jubei, as cool and casual as ever, my eyes watching his hand absently move down to caress the polished wood of his gun. Their conversation seemed pleasant enough although I couldn’t hear everything they were saying, but it was apparent that they were trading as well. I watched as the swordsman handed over a book to the taller man and they exchanged some words before Jubei turned and left. I briefly thought of asking the gunman if he’d like to trade his newly acquired book, but thought better of it. Jubei would be the key to alleviating my boredom and I walked down to the bar as casually as possible. I knew that nobody would really notice me, but after Jubei’s warning to me about not showing off I decided to follow his advice and be as inconspicuous as only I knew how. I walked past the table that Magoichi Saiga sat at, watching him out of the corner of my eye. He was drinking his sake again, his dark eyes darting around the bar to take in as much as they could in a glance before turning back to his drink. His style of collecting information in such an obvious manner almost made me laugh. There was no way he’d survive training in Fuma village under the teacher that I’d had. I probably should have thought it was odd that he didn’t look at me at all as I walked past him, but my thoughts were occupied with finding Jubei and I didn’t even bother turning to confront Magoichi when I felt his eyes burning into my back as I walked outside.

By the time I reached the street, I’d lost sight of the sword master and I began the long trek up to the gold mines where I knew I could probably find him. I passed one of Imasho’s many whores and shuddered when I felt her hand on my shoulder. “Looking for a good time?” her sultry voice drifted over my ears, making me want to run.

Her thick perfume overpowered my senses when I turned towards her, not bothering to hide my distaste for her, “Yeah, but not with you.” I really had no use for women and was only further repulsed by them when they took to selling themselves for a bit of money.

She recovered from my rejection quickly enough, a sneer twisting her otherwise fair features, “What’s the matter? You don’t like women?” Her shrill voice carried through the street as she laughed at me, drawing the looks of several people passing by. I didn’t care. Not really. I didn’t really like women anyways. I’d learned the hard way that they were traitorous and couldn’t be trusted; my mother, having decided that I was too much of a bother to take care of, had quickly abandoned me when I was a baby. The one woman in my life that I should have been able to trust had let me down at the first opportunity. I grit my teeth at the thought and glared at another woman who was walking up and down the street, looking for customers willing to pay what little fee she asked. They all disgusted me and I would never have anything to do with any of them. I backed up from the woman who had touched me and continued on my way to the gold mines, praying that Jubei would have something to get the memory of her out of my mind.


	2. Chapter 2

The mine was empty except for a few people who felt brave enough to try their luck at finding some gold. Jubei had been a bit more difficult to find than I’d expected, but not impossible. I am a ninja, after all. Finding people in winding tunnels is nothing for someone with my skills.

“Hey, Jubei!” I said cheerily, not really feeling the sentiment. “Do you have anything for me?” The swordsman regarded me with an unreadable expression. It seemed that I was the only one who felt like putting on a show of cheer and I waited for him to say something in his usual grim tone. Jubei Yagyu was a man driven by revenge for the destruction of his village and I assumed that thoughts of killing Nobunaga ran through his mind most of the time, now being no exception. He hid his pain well, instead showing the world a cold exterior that did little to comfort those around him. Of course the comfort of those he spoke to would probably be the farthest from his mind these days. “I’m bored,” I clarified when he didn’t say anything. “Do you have anything rare for me? Maybe a book? I read through that other one that you gave me but I’d like another one if you have it.”

He looked at me for a moment, eyes drifting to his pack as a look of thoughtfulness flashed across his face before hardening once more. “Well, I did find something, but I don’t think you’d be interested in it,” he said in his usual monotone as he reached into his pack. “It’s a book on history… I know Magoichi likes that kind of thing so I was going to give it to him, but if you have something I could use…” he looked at me expectantly. I had tons of useful things, but I suspected that he wanted something more than healing potions. I quickly checked my pack and pulled out a jewel of sorts. “How about this?” I asked, handing it to him. He examined it before nodding, seeming pleased with the trade and handed me the book.

+++

I walked back to my room at the bar after that, the leather-bound tome clutched in my hands and I wondered if it was really worth it. Sure I was bored, but would a history lesson really be the thing to keep me entertained? I sighed, rolling my eyes when I thought about it more. If worse came to worse I could always sell it and maybe find something that interested me in one of the shops around town. That small thought comforted my worries as I approached the bar. The prostitute I’d spoken to earlier was busy with a customer and I breathed a sigh of relief to know that I didn’t have to listen to her whining voice again. I entered the bar and passed by Magoichi’s table, watching his eyes watching me as I climbed the stairs. It was an odd moment of clarity that I can’t explain; our eyes met and for that moment I knew that he knew exactly what I was doing. I suppose that I could have avoided it, since a Fuma ninja can become invisible if they want to, but I wanted a confrontation with the older man and that’s probably why I let him follow me up to my room at the top of the stairs. When I reached the landing a playful mood struck me and I quickly leapt up to the rafters, hiding myself in the shadows there and peeking out at Magoichi as he reached the top of the stairs. He stood there for a moment looking around the room and I held back a laugh at how foolish he looked trying to figure out where I was. He propped his rifle against his shoulder and slowly shook his head, seeming to have given up. I prepared to leap out to startle him, but he chuckled instead, catching me off guard. “Hey, kid,” he said in a voice that was smooth as smoke, yet commanding. “What’s your business with Jubei, eh?” he asked, looking up at my hiding spot.

His eyes looked straight at me and I knew I was caught. Well, I guess I didn’t hide myself all that well, anyways, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. I hopped down to the floor beside him with cat-like grace. “Oh, nothing,” I said all sing-song and innocent as I walked over to lay down on my mat by the fire. “It seems that he and I have the same sort of relationship as you share with him,” I smiled, raising my eyebrow for effect.

He looked at me oddly, perhaps confused by my vague response, and sat down opposite me, the fire separating us. “What do you mean, exactly?” he asked, his tone betraying nothing of his emotions. “I only trade with him. If you suspected something more…” he let his sentence trail off, leaving me to fill in the gap and I realized what he thought I’d meant.

Could he have suspected that I would have that kind of relationship with Jubei? I wanted to laugh at the suggestion, but instead held my composure and grinned. “Nothing more than trading,” I said, pretending to have no idea what he was implying. I enjoyed watching him pretend to be insulted, knowing full well that it was an act to hide his true emotions. It might have fooled a regular person, but I am far more skilled than a regular person in the art of deception and saw through his display quite plainly. I smiled at him and reached into my pack, grabbing a tokkuri of sake that I had purchased earlier and proceeded to pour myself a drink. I watched his eyes as they followed my hands, lingering on the drink as I poured. “Want some?” I asked, tilting the bottle in his direction once I’d filled my cup. He said nothing as he leaned over to accept my offer, raising rim to his lips to take a long drink straight from the bottle. My expression must have betrayed my disgust with him because he gave me a wry smile and laughed as he passed the container back to me. Did he think it was childish of me to not want to share the same bottle with a man I’d just met? Or was he just baiting me; trying to get a rise out of me so that I would betray some important secret that I held? I grabbed the bottle from his hand, putting the ceramic to my lips and taking a long drink to show him that it didn’t matter. I drank all that I could, which wasn’t much since he’d taken his fair share of the drink, and lowered the tokkuri from my lips, looking at the gunman to gauge his reaction. Would he care? Suddenly what he thought seemed very important to me and I wanted to prove that I wasn’t the child he thought I was. When I looked at him he was staring at the fire, seeming to have forgotten that I was even there! "You have been trading with Jubei," I said suddenly, pulling his attention away from the flames and back up to my inquisitive gaze.

"What of it?" he asked, looking at me oddly. "What would a ninja want with him or me? If you intend..."

"You worry too much, Magoichi Saiga," I said, cutting him off. "I wanted to talk to you." I reached for my pack, intending to show him the book I’d acquired earlier. I swear that with all of my ninja training, and all my skills that allowed me to sense danger, I did not see him coming when he reached forward to grab my hand. I tried to pull away but his grip was strong and I found myself at his mercy as he loomed over me, knife drawn. "You misunderstand," I started, tossing my pack at him with my other hand. "I only intended to ask if you'd like to trade with me." His grip loosened somewhat but he did not release me as he inspected what I'd shown him. After a moment he looked back into my eyes and I allowed him to see in them that I was telling the truth. His eyes, however, were clouded and I could not read him in them at all. It bothered me that I’d left myself so open to him just to show that I intended no harm. What of his intentions? I stiffened then, in preparation to fight him if I had to, but he nodded at me and released my wrist. He offered no apology for his actions and sat back down at his spot, looking at me expectantly. I rubbed at my sore wrist, glaring back at him and idly wondering if he was always such a strong and domineering person. He was far more than he seemed, I realized, and I resolved to keep a closer eye on him.

We ordered more sake from the bar and drank in silence, preferring to spend the time in immersed in our own thoughts and I wondered more and more what he was doing here. At first he irritated me, but the longer I stayed there thinking about him, the more I interesting he seemed. He preferred to fight with guns instead of swords, which was puzzling because I always thought of the sword as the better weapon. Guns needed ammunition as well as a cool head to aim them properly in the heat of battle. If he were to run out of either during a fight, then it could turn out very badly for him. I probably shouldn't have let my thoughts wander to such things, but I knew that he would never loose his concentration or his resolve, even if he had ten demons bearing down on him. He would make a good ally, I decided, and having him for an enemy would be unacceptable. If I discovered that his loyalties lay with Nobunaga then I would not hesitate to kill him, although I hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

+++

The afternoon drew out, and I'll admit that I allowed myself to drink a bit too much. Really stupid of me, but I guess the silence began to eat at me and I needed to fill it with something. After deciding that I’d had enough to drink I crawled over to pull out a futon from the many that were neatly folded away in this area of the bar. I remember looking up at Magoichi as he stood up, gathering his things to leave me to sleep. He didn’t say anything to me, but tilted his head to acknowledge that I was there. I fell asleep rather quickly after he left; the sake working its way through my veins, and warming my blood as the cool night air descended upon me.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke very suddenly, sitting bolt upright on the futon. There was a presence that had startled me, waking me from my dreamless state as I felt it staring at me in the night. Very little moonlight managed to trickle in from the balcony door and I was left blind in the darkness, yet my senses screamed at me that someone was watching me. The scent of tobacco reached my nose and I saw a dull light glowing in mid-air across the room. “Who's there?” I asked, jumping to my feet, weapon in hand. A rough chuckle reached my ears and the light grew brighter, burning more of the tobacco plant and sending that delicious scent to fill my nostrils. “Oh, it’s you,” I said, lowering my weapons slightly, now seeing the outline of his form sitting against the wall opposite me. “What are you doing here?” I asked, taking a few steps forward, never loosing grip of my kunai.

“Same as you,” he said, drawing off his pipe. His eyes shone with amusement under the orange glow of the ember and I swear I almost laughed at how odd I felt then.

The sweet scent of tobacco washed over me and made me wonder if it was his smoking that had roughened his voice to such a seductive rumble. I shook my head, realizing the situation, “What do you mean?” I couldn't let myself get distracted by such things at a time like this.

“Sleeping,” he said simply. “I needed a place to stay. The owner let me up here.” I saw him tilt his head up to look at me, the ember of his pipe lighting his face in a dull orange glow. My eyes fixed on this, watching it grow brighter before dulling once again as it smoldered in the bowl. I watched as the light seemed to draw closer to me and I realized after a moment that he was passing his pipe to me. “Want some?” he asked. I’d always wanted to try tobacco and accepted his offer. I re-sheathed my kunai and sat across from him, eagerly taking the stem in my hands and putting the end to my mouth. It was warm and I looked at him as I wrapped my lips around the end and sucked in a deep breath through the mouthpiece The ember glowed brighter than before, filling my lungs with heavy smoke and overpowering my senses. I doubled over with a violent coughing fit as my lungs tried to expel the smoky air. I was dimly aware of his hands as they grabbed me, taking the pipe from my grasping hands before I dropped it. It was a long moment before I was able to breathe normally again, my eyes watering from coughing and the taste of tobacco in my mouth. I looked at him, feeling stupid for letting a little thing like a pipe put me in such a state. He was leaning against the wall again, his eyes laughing at me as he sucked on his pipe, seeming to enjoy the sight I must have made. I straightened my posture, flipping my hair to the side as I gave him a look that told him not to write me off so quickly. He raised an eyebrow, pulling the pipe from his lips and offering it to me once again. I took it and this time paid close attention to my actions. I put the end in my mouth and carefully sucked on it, letting the smoke enter my mouth and play along my pallet before inhaling it with some regular air into my lungs.

The experience was quite different this time as I felt my lungs warm with the smoke and I absently fingered the stem of the pipe. The glowing ember illuminated the fine carvings that decorated the bowl and spread along the stem to the mouthpiece; it was really a beautiful thing once I saw it close up. I released my breath that I had been holding, watching the smoke pass through my nose and mouth and into Magoichi's face. “Sorry!” I exclaimed once I realized what I’d done. I quickly set the pipe aside and tried to fan some of the offending smoke away from him.

He shook his head with a sigh, “Don’t worry about it.” He leaned towards me to pick the pipe up from where I’d left it on the floor. His fluid movement did not stop there and he continued leaning closer to me until our faces were inches apart. I could almost taste the smoke on his breath and my eyes were locked with his as he closed the distance between us. “You learn quickly, Kotaro,” he whispered, his voice low and husky. He raised a hand up to my cheek, fingers spreading out over my skin to run along my jaw line and splay across my cheekbone.

There was something odd about the situation, but right then I was too enthralled with what he was doing to think straight. “T-thank you!” I stuttered, not quite sure what he meant but taking the compliment at face value. I leaned my face into his hand, letting my eyes drift shut as he trailed a calloused finger along my cheek. In that moment the only thing I could think of was how wonderful he smelled and the feeling of the rough fingers that were running along my cheek. I became light headed at the sensation, my sleeping flesh beginning to stir and I nuzzled his palm, running my lips along his thumb.

After a few more moments he stopped his caresses, causing me to look questioningly into his eyes. “There are many things you will have to learn quickly if you want to defeat Nobunaga,” he said, his voice becoming serious once again. “Spying on me will not help you with that. I have been aware of you watching me ever since I arrived in Imasho,” his fingers tightened on my face, gripping my jaw almost painfully to prove that he was serious. “I want you to stop it, Kotaro.” His eyes had regained their hardened and unreadable appearance from before and the void that sprang up between us threatened to suffocate me.

I was confused and nodded dumbly, realizing that I probably hadn’t been as clever as I’d thought I’d been. Jubei had been more right than I’d originally thought and I was being foolish and careless. Especially now that I was so close to defeating the leader of the Oda clan, I couldn’t afford to let my boredom get the better of me. Magoichi’s grip lessened and he released me, never looking at me but returning to lean against his wall. I contemplated grabbing my kunai and attacking him, but thought better of it, knowing it was just the sort of thing that Jubei had warned me against. I instead walked back to my futon, never taking my eyes off of him as he watched me from across the room.

Sleep took longer to claim me. Even after I’d spent long minutes listening to Magoichi’s breathing slow as sleep took him into its comforting embrace I still could not relax into that blissful state myself. The memory of his hand on my skin sent shivers down my spine and I wondered what might have become of the situation between us. It wouldn’t be long before Jubei would break through Nobunaga’s defenses and I would need to be ready for that. I would need all my strength to help in the upcoming battle and worrying about my past mistakes would do nothing to help. After what felt like hours I drifted off, the sound of Magoichi’s breathing filling my ears and the feel of his hand on me firmly planted in my memory.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke early. The sunlight was just peeking over the rooftops and the town still had a good hour of sleep left to it. I quietly climbed off my futon and cast a glance at the sleeping figure leaning up against the wall. His gun was propped against his shoulder, his cheek leaning against the metal in an affectionate way that made me pause. Would someone who served Nobunaga sleep so soundly? I crept over to him, which really wasn't the smartest thing to do, but my curiosity overrode all of my sense. I approached him as quietly as I could, making sure to watch for signs that he was waking. His light snoring never faltered, his head still cradling the barrel of his rifle. I crouched down in front of him, not really looking for anything particular but still unable to resist my desire to look at him. He was only about ten or so years older than me, but I could see from this close up that he showed the years clearly. Many light scars riddled his bare arms and his fingers were burnt from the gunpowder he used to make his bullets. Would I look like him when I got to be his age? I noticed that not one scratch marred his face, which was more than could be said for mine. I suppose bladed weapons had their drawbacks as they allowed enemies to get in close. The scar I carried, however, was a gift from my master from years earlier when I'd gone against his orders. One simple cut across my cheek that I would have forever to remind me of my foolishness. That was years ago and here I was being foolish again. I quickly stood, intending to go downstairs to find some breakfast and get away before I was caught. I moved to leave but a hand on my leg stopped me.

I looked down in surprise to see Magoichi looking up at me with those cold, hard eyes that he'd had the night before. I twisted in a vain attempt to get away from him, but he held me tightly, tripping me to the ground as I tried to escape. I was on my back and shifted to roll away, swatting at him ineffectively as he climbed on top of me. His weight settled on me and my struggles seemed to have little effect; his strength was so much more than mine that I could not break the grip he had on me. He stilled my legs with his knees and held my hands together against my chest, putting most of his weight against me to keep me still beneath him. I stopped struggling, instead saving my strength for an opening where I could escape from him.

"I thought I told you last night to stop spying on me," he growled, his breath hot on my face as he loomed over me. "Do I have to teach you a lesson?"

I struggled again, trying to escape as panic raced through me. He was definitely an enemy if he threatened me for such a little thing! I wrenched my hands apart, freeing my right and reaching for the knife he kept at his belt. If I could just free it from its sheath then I would be able to escape and kill him before he killed me. His gun was lying forgotten on the ground beyond his reach and I was more skilled with a blade than him.

His left hand quickly caught my right, inches before my fingers closed around the handle of his blade. I heard him curse under his breath as he roughly forced my hands together above my head, holding them in place with one hand while he struck me across the cheek. I stopped, stunned for a moment at the force he put behind his blow. He seemed to relax after a moment and shifted his weight so that his knees weren't hurting my legs as much. "Like I was saying," he started in his usual rough tone. "If you don't stop spying on me, then I'm going to have to teach you a lesson." I looked up to his eyes in defiance, his dark orbs never betraying his thoughts to me as his free hand trailed down my face. His expression softened for a moment, "Unless, it was something else you wanted from me, Kotaro?"

I shook my head, closing my eyes against his changing gaze. "No!" I shouted, weakly trying to pull my arms free, but making no real effort. He had me where he wanted me and at that time there was nothing I could do. He lowered his body against mine, stretching his legs out to hold mine in place and pressing the full length of his body against me, still holding me down with his weight, but in a far more comfortable way. "Just tell me what you want," I ground out through my teeth as his face drew closer to mine. He smelled of tobacco and gunpowder; the combination of the two was entirely Magoichi and I tried to ignore the feelings he was stirring deep within me.

"It looks like you are the one who wants something, Kotaro," he purred, pressing his hips harder against mine, causing me to bite back a groan.

My hips arched against his involuntarily, my heartbeat racing and I felt my cock stiffen against the pressure of his body. “No!” I growled, lunging forward with all my strength to clamp my teeth onto some part of his face and make him lose his grip on me. He was so close to me, looming over me with that amused expression. It was humiliating and something that I should have been able to escape with all of my agility and speed. His strength should not have been able to hold me there, but it wasn’t only his strength that kept me pinned under him. My body betrayed my will and relished the feel of him pressed against me. It buzzed with excitement and did little to resist when he captured my biting mouth in a brutal kiss.

For a split second I let him into me. His tongue forced its way inside my mouth and it was the best thing I’d ever felt in my life. For only that split second.

I couldn’t let him do this to me. With my body craving his touch and my senses reeling I bit down, hard. He grunted into my mouth but I didn’t let go of that slippery muscle that I held tightly between my teeth.

I think I caught him by surprise, which was a good thing, because it gave me my chance to free one of my arms. I released my bite and pulled my arm back to hit him with all of my strength. My fist connected with his jaw, knocking him off of me with a loud crack. I scrambled to my feet, drawing my kunai and crouching into an attack stance a few feet from where he’d pinned me to the ground. My legs were weak and I wasn’t sure that I could handle a full-out fight right then, but I wouldn’t let him get me into a compromising position like that again. “Tell me the truth!” I said as he climbed to his feet, not looking very angry by what I’d done to him. “Are you here to serve Nobunaga?”

He stood with his back to me, casually leaning down to pick up his rifle and propping the weapon against his shoulder before turning to face me. “Does it matter?” His mouth was smiling, but his eyes still carried that hard look that caused me to keep my kunai at a defensive level. He shook his head, almost laughing, “You confuse me, kid. You wanted that,” he said, indicating our situation moments before. My body trembled at the memory of his body pressed against mine but I did not trust my voice enough to speak. “Well, whatever,” he said, shrugging and turning from me. “Spy on me if you want. Things are starting to heat up with Jubei and Nobunaga, though, so you might want to focus on your mission a bit more.” He turned and headed down the stairs before I had a chance to say anything.

Once I was sure he'd gone I relaxed my body, lowering my blade to my side. What just happened? I'd been watching him sleep one moment, and the next he'd been on top of me. The thing that bothered me the most, as I stood there shaking, was that I'd actually enjoyed it. The complete helplessness that I'd felt as he held me down, the feel of his tongue as it had invaded my mouth. I'd never experienced anything like it. Of course, I’d never had a chance to, since I'd been given the responsibility of leading the Fuma clan at such a young age. When he’d first held me down I'd panicked, never really having felt that helpless beneath another man, but thinking back on it, it had been such a relief that now all I wanted was to feel it again. To let someone else take over, if only for a little while. Even though I wanted him, I did not regret forcing him off of me. There had been something dangerous in his eyes. Not something I wanted to look up into while I let him have complete control over me.

I sheathed my weapons and paced angrily to the other side of the room. Ninjas don't let themselves be bothered by such little things. They would go to the mines and watch Jubei's progression or they would be down at the marketplace investigating that strange woman who showed up looking for Jubei. Other ninjas would not be focusing all of their attention on someone like Magoichi and letting themselves be subdued so easily. I shivered, my groin still aching from the memory of his body pressed against mine. He’d known exactly what he was doing and I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t pushed him away; his rough hands keeping me under their strong grip, muscled body pressing into mine. I shook my head, ignoring my need and climbed off the balcony. I didn’t have time to finish off what he’d started. It was true, there were things that I had to do and for all the time I’d had to complain about, I was now running short of it.


	5. Chapter 5

My mind was in turmoil, and for once I wasn't bored.  I followed Jubei to the marketplace, and from there, to the remains of Yagyu village, where I watched the demon woman kill his mother.  Our fates were similar, it seemed, in that we’d never known our mothers.  In Takajo’s case, however, she’d had a good reason to remain hidden, and she had always been close by.  What about my mother?  She didn't care the same way that Takajo did in her last moments; thinking only of her son?  I turned from Jubei as he held her body, not wanting to spy on such a special thing that I'd never know myself.

The demons around this area were stronger than they had been in the mines.  I still had no trouble beating them, but I would be in over my head if I continued fighting without help… I couldn't let such a golden opportunity to help defeat Nobunaga pass me by!  His armies had decimated my village.  I couldn't sit by and let someone else do the job for me.  Besides, my skills were far too valuable to Jubei to leave him by himself, since I knew the demons would be trying to trap him soon.  That woman who called herself Oyu was following him a bit too closely, and there was something familiar about her; something that put me on edge more than Ekei or Magoichi did.  Although I was still unsure of where Magoichi's loyalties lay, and I'd all but forgotten about the womanizing monk, I was certain that Oyu was there on Nobunaga's behalf.  Women could not be trusted.  I’d learned that bitter lesson early in life.  There was no way that I’d let another one betray me again.  Not when the stakes were so high!

I looked down from the tree I was hiding in to watch Jubei holding his mother.  I should have left him to his sorrow, but Oyu had found him there and I wouldn’t leave him alone!  Jubei spoke to her softly, his words sounding hollow and full of self-doubt; much different from his usual gruff manner.  I have to admit that her intentions to console him did seem sincere and as I watched her, for a small moment, I forgot that she was the enemy.  After Takajo's body had disappeared and Jubei had left to find the demon woman responsible, I approached Oyu.  My intent was to ask her what she was doing there, but when I looked at her, I saw the woman who had betrayed me as a child.  Why would Oyu be any different from her, or any of them?  My tone that I had intended to sound so light turned cold, "Who are you?  What do you want with Jubei?"

She looked surprised, but that only proved that she was skilled at gaining the trust of her enemies.  "What do you mean?"  Her looks were fair and no-doubt won over many of the men she betrayed.

I would never be one of those men, and I wouldn't let Jubei become one of them either.  "Your name isn't Oyu," I said, openly showing my distrust.  "I don't know who you are, but since you lied about your name, I can't trust you to tell the truth about anything else."  I circled her, never taking my hands from my weapons as I looked her up and down.  The armour she wore looked to be of the highest quality and the broad sword and shield she carried were well made as well.  But even though she was well armed, her defensive stance as I walked close to her told me that she had little skill in using any of her equipment effectively.  Either she was very stupid, or very skilled at her act of deception.  "It seems that Nobunaga spares nothing when equipping his spies," I said, trying to goad her into revealing what she knew.  "You can't fool me, woman!"  She tried to approach me and my kunai struck out at her, full of venom and distrust. 

Her shield came up at the last moment, deflecting my blow, but it didn't matter.  I had many other tricks up my sleeve to keep her away from me.  My ears were deaf to her words and I hated her then as she tried to lie to me.  "You don't understand, Kotaro!  It's not like that at all!"  My only answer was the sound of my blade slicing the air as it lashed out at her again, biting into her armour and causing her to cry out in surprise.  I wouldn't give her the opportunity to betray us.  Her good looks, her kind words, her well-thought out lies of sympathy; none of her tricks would stop my blade from reaching its mark.  I would kill her, or at the very least force her to show Jubei that her true allegiance lay with Nobunaga.

She took a swing at me, but her balance was off and she fell on the ground.  Did she really expect me to believe that she was here to defeat Nobunaga with her skills?  "Ch, even if I believed you were really here to help us, you would only get in the way," I said, glaring at her where she lay.  "Stay away from Jubei, or I'll kill you."  I didn't wholly feel the venom in my words, but I wanted her gone and it was the best way I knew how.

The tears in her eyes were genuine as she got to her feet and ran past me to the path to the village.  I followed her closely, intending to make sure she was really leaving.  I hopped across the stones in the pond, but when I reached the bank, someone was there, waiting for me.

He was leaning against a tree, his gun propped against his shoulder in a casual way, yet I could see he was ready to fight if any demons appeared.  "Did you and the little lady have a fight?"

I remembered our last meeting; I had let my guard down and he'd taken advantage of it.  I could feel my heart speed up at the thought of him pinning me to the ground again.  “What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to get my mind off of the way that he affected me.

"Getting some fresh air," he laughed, digging his pipe out of his vest.

I was torn between talking to him or following Oyu.  "It seems that Jubei has found many friends to help him," I said, keeping my voice steady, betraying none of the emotions that ran through me as he looked at me.  "I am here to help him defeat Nobunaga.  I am still unsure of Oyu's loyalties.  I have seen her somewhere before and she is not who she claims to be."

"Perhaps you should spend more time following her instead of spying on me?" there was amusement in his eyes as he casually held the unlit pipe at his side.  He wanted me gone and it was for that reason that I hesitated in leaving.

"I'm still not sure about you," I said plainly, inviting him to say more.  He didn’t say anything, instead sniffing at the air, his gaze intent on the pond from where I’d come.  Why didn’t he come out and say it?  Normally I would have dropped such a trivial thing, but I’d put so much time into following him that I couldn’t rest until I found out the truth.  The cold air bit through my clothing as I stood there with him, causing me to shiver.  It had been so warm back in Imasho, but the Yagyu village seemed to be cloaked in a negative energy that made everything so cold.  There was a light drizzle that filled the air and it seemed that all the animals in the surrounding forest area had fled.  The demons activities in the area were having their effect on everything.

I turned and left Magoichi by the pond, starting the trek along the forest path that led back to the village. With a little luck I was sure that finding Oyu would be easy and I needed to talk to Jubei about a few things.  The demon that had killed his mother had no doubt set up many pitfalls for him.  For all of his skills with the sword Jubei would need my help to pass the demons traps.  If Magoichi proved to be an ally, then his skills would help our cause as well.  It bothered me that he was so cold and secretive whenever I asked what he was doing there.  If our goals were the same, then what was the trouble in telling me?  I kicked at some leaves as I crossed over a bridge, thinking more and more about that gunman.  I didn't notice the figures that had appeared behind me until it was too late.

I felt the air shift to my right and I rolled to the left, narrowly escaping the red blade that sliced through the air where I'd been moments earlier.  I looked up into the red gaze of a beast that towered over me.  A Zedan class of genma, if I remembered my information on demon classes.  The information that I’d found had been sketchy, but I didn’t need a book to tell me that I should get out of the way.  I sprang to my feet and drew my kunai, blocking the next blow that came down on me with crushing force.  I staggered back a few steps, regaining my strength as the beast swung at me again.  I ducked out of the way and stepped around its side, stabbing it a few times and hopefully hitting a vital spot, or at least, hurting it enough to slow it down.  It reeled from my attacks, slowly turning around to face me and I prepared to deliver a finishing blow.

Everything slowed down as I reached out to drive my blade under the neck guard of the demon in front of me.  I realized, all too late, that there was another one behind me as its roar broke through my concentration.  I could hear its massive blade sing through the air as it came down on top of me.  In that split second I thought that it was funny that I should die here.  It was really stupid of me to let my mind wander in this place.  The realization of my mistake didn’t bother me as I saw all sorts of things flash before my mind’s eye.  They were all so neutral and sad.  I felt numb.  The blade falling on me was taking forever.  My feet were rooted to the ground, my body still leaning forward to deliver the fatal blow to the demon before me.  Through the haze I thought I heard a few loud bangs.  Someone was calling my name.  The blade bit into my shoulder, the force behind it driving me to my knees .  I cried out in surprise, I think, or maybe it was pain.  I wasn’t sure.  Everything clouded over my vision in a white mist.  The cold air was cutting through me, numbing my fingers first and spreading along my arms to the rest of my body.  I thought of trying to get up to kill the demon before I died, but my body wouldn’t listen to me.  I couldn’t move my right arm and my left felt so heavy, like I had no strength in it.  My body fell forward, the leaves on the ground cushioning my fall as I sank into their wet embrace.  I would probably die in this place, but I was too tired to care about it right now.  My eyelids were so heavy.  I happily let them drift shut, ignoring the feet that were running along the path towards me.  It was too late.


	6. Chapter 6

The cold was what woke me this time.  Followed by the pain.  The dull ache that throbbed around my shoulder intensified the moment I tried to move my arm.  I didn’t know what was more uncomfortable, the cold or the pain.  I opened an eye, carefully looking around me to see where I was.  A room.  The light was dim and I couldn’t see anything past a few feet from where I lay.  My armour had been removed and my chest was bare, skin icy cold under the thin blanket that covered me.  It seemed that I wouldn’t be moving from where I was without help.

I tried to remember what had happened.  I had followed Jubei to Yagyu village.  I had been trying to find Oyu, but had been attacked.  Was this her betrayal?  Oh god, it was difficult to think.  I lifted my left hand, tentatively placing it near my injured shoulder.  The skin there was tender and ached under my touch.  I closed my eyes, inhaling sharply as my fingers blindly moved further along my wound, over damp bandages that were wrapped tightly around my arm and shoulder.  I could clearly remember the demon attacking me, and I’d been too busy thinking about Magoichi to notice the second one sneak up behind me.  I tried to turn my head to look at my shoulder, gritting my teeth against the pain.  The muscles in my neck screamed at me, forcing me to relax and rest my head back against the floor.  I couldn’t even look to see how badly I’d been hurt!  I brought my hand up close to my eyes, looking at the red that lightly covered them from where I’d touched the bandages.  I didn’t need to taste it to know it was blood.  The metallic smell of it filled my nostrils as I lay there, wondering who the hell had bothered to save me.  In a village full of dead people there were only a few who remained that would bother to help me and bind my wounds.  Whoever it was had done what was necessary to stop the bleeding, but hadn't thought of my comfort.  The room was cold and if I didn't warm up soon... I repressed a shudder, the cold seeping further into my bones.  This was not good.

I laid there in the dark for a while longer before a sound to my right startled me and I quickly turned my head to see what was there.  I wasn’t used to being injured and I was forced to rest again as the throbbing pain spread out from my shoulder and up my neck at the sharp movement.  "Who’s there?" I croaked; my voice pained.  I had intended to sound demanding, but my question had only served to inform my visitor of the kind of shape I was really in.  Hopefully it wasn’t a demon looking for a snack.

There was a pause before a low, rumbling laughter met my ears.  I relaxed a fraction when I recognized Magoichi’s voice.  It was rough but lacked in any derision, "You can be pretty stupid, kid."  He walked into my line of vision, the smirk on his lips looking forced beneath his concerned, brown eyes.  "You should have heard those two coming a mile away,” he said, indicating the demons that had attacked me.  “If I hadn't shown up, your head would be split like a melon right now."  He sighed, leaning over me to inspect my wound. 

I winced, the pain that I had momentarily forgotten was brought to the front of my conscious as he began poking at my shoulder.  "You were the one who saved me?" I asked through clenched teeth.  He nodded, his eyes flicking up to mine before returning to the task at hand.  "Why?"  I had many ideas why he'd do it, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.  Something inside me said he was there to help me.  Why would he spend so much time with me otherwise?

His hands worked swiftly, unwrapping the bandages from my arm and shoulder.  "I just thought you'd want to spy on me a bit more, Kotaro," he said, forcing another smile to his lips.  Was he trying to cheer me up?  The thought was absurd, but in his eyes I could see he was more worried than he was letting on.  Was I really hurt that badly?

The last of the bandages came off and I shivered as the cold air met the bloodied mess that was once my shoulder.  I could not see, but from Magoichi's reaction I could not have been doing well.  "Well," I said, drawing his gaze to mine for a moment.  "If you're going to help me spy on you, maybe we should team up, then?"  I kept my tone light, hoping to cheer him from the morose look he'd taken on.  "I mean, it would make my job a whole lot easier,” I continued, “Not that I can't do it, of course.  The Fuma clan is well known for its stealth skills.  I just meant that if we're together, then maybe I could worry about watching Oy-ahh!"  My words cut off in a groan, the pain in my shoulder intensifying as he applied something to it.

My left hand instinctively shot out to protect my shoulder, but he caught it in mid air.  "Don't," he said sharply, “you'll get dirt in the wound."  He released my wrist and returned to his work.  I had to fight to listen to his warning as the throbbing increased and I could hear my heart beating in my ears.  I returned my hand to my side and balled it into a fist, doing what I could to ignore the pain.  My eyes slipped shut and I let him continue to change my bindings in silence.

I don’t know why I trusted him to take care of me at that moment, but I didn’t really have much of a choice.  Despite the incredible pain I was in, it felt like he was healing me properly.  He’d probably bound a lot of wounds throughout the many battles he’d been in.  I found comfort in listening to his steady breathing and I could have fallen asleep if it weren't for the damned cold.  "Magoichi?" I asked, breaking the silence.  "C-Could you… I-I'm really cold..." I reached out my hand to grab him and let him feel my skin to prove it.  His hand was so warm that I instinctively held him tightly, trying to absorb the warmth out of him through our meager contact.

He gripped me back, taking a pause from wrapping my new bindings.  "I'm sorry," he said sadly, as if it was his fault.  "Once I finish here I'll start a fire."  He held my hand for a moment longer before releasing me and finishing tying off my new bandages.  I took care to not strain my neck again, so I stared straight up and listened to him move around the room. 

From the feel of the air around me, I could tell that we were in a large room with many doors.  There was air moving in from above as well, as if there were a hole or something through the roof.  "Where are we?" I asked, growing tired of listening to him move around in the dark. 

"Jubei's house," he said, "It was the only one in the village that wasn't damaged by the demons."  I heard some rustling nearby and then a crack.  It sounded like he was trying to start a fire.  There were some more rustling sounds of him adjusting the kindling and then another crack.  I strained my eyes to look as far over as I could, but didn’t see any light.

"There should be some tools in my pack to start a fire," I said, once I'd heard him curse a few times, obviously having problems.

He moved over to me and I saw him rummaging around in my pack by my feet.  "Everything is so damp," he explained when he saw me looking at him.  Did he care what I thought?  "It just takes a bit longer to start a fire when the wood is like this."  He moved back beyond my vision and I heard him try again.

A few moments passed before I heard him curse, more loudly this time.  "If the wood is too wet, then I have a powder that should help dry it out and make it more flammable," I said.  "I keep it in a small, brown container."  I saw him move close to me again and look through my pack.  I listened to him rummage about through the contents before dumping them on the floor.  “Hey, don’t lose anything,” I said, looking as far over as I could to glare at him.  My things were scattered around on the floor and he was sitting in the middle of it all.  He was holding the container I'd told him about in one hand, and looking over the book I'd gotten from Jubei in the other. 

I rested my head against the floor again, staring up at the ceiling.  It was irritating to not be able to see what was going on around me so I listened to him as he continued working on the fire.  The cold still held my body in its icy grip, but I felt my eyes grow heavy and I let them close, letting my mind drift to other things.

Images flashed across my vision; random pictures that didn't interest me, until one scene caught my attention.  In it there were people lying dead at my feet.  Nobunaga stood before me with Oyu by his side. We were in Fuma village and the buildings were on fire.  I drifted through the carnage, little more than a formless specter watching as the flames leapt up and passed through my body.  The fire burned as cold as ice and I shivered violently as they passed through me.  I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold onto some of the precious warmth that fled my body when the sharp ache in my shoulder quickly woke me.  I moaned in pain, gingerly resting my injured side back on the floor and hoping I hadn’t torn anything.  I was so uncomfortable at that moment, between the cold and my injuries, that I just wanted to die.

I didn’t hear him move, but rather felt his warm hands on me as he held me down.  Relief was the first thing on my mind as I blindly grabbed at him, holding him so he wouldn’t let me go.  “Kotaro,” he said, pulling my attention up to his dark eyes.  “The fire is started, but you’re still so cold.  It’s probably because of your injury that you can’t keep warm.”  He tried to pull away from me but I didn’t let go of him.  “I can either look for some more blankets for you, or…” he trailed off as I started to pull him closer to me, warmth being the only thing on my mind.  I think I heard him sigh before he gently pulled his hands back and moved over to my uninjured side.  I felt him climb in next to me, under the blanket, and draped a stiff arm over my waist.  He was tense.  His muscles were hard against my side, and his breath was rough in my ear.  That wonderful smell of gunpowder filled my nose and overpowered the metallic smell of blood that had been with me since I’d woken up.  I relished the feel of his body against mine, wondering if he was uncomfortable lying next to me.  I did my best to press myself against him, shivering as I adjusted to the difference in temperature.  The fire was crackling to my right, just outside my vision.  I could feel its heat close to me, the soft orange glow of the flames dimly lighting the room.  I looked around, or rather, up.  I was really hating not be able to move.  The only thing I could look at without discomfort was the ceiling.  This was the ceiling of the house that Jubei grew up in.  Had Magoichi really carried me all the way here?  Had he been attacked on the way?  Why would he bother to save me?  I usually didn’t let my mind wander to such questions, but I guess boredom had let it come to that.  Magoichi was probably an ally in my fight.  It didn’t really matter now if he was or not because, as it stood, I was completely at his mercy.  I lay there for a long time, listening to his breathing until it eventually slowed and evened out, telling me that he was asleep.  At least I wasn’t freezing anymore.  I sighed, resigning myself to sleep for the night since there wasn’t much else that I could do.  In the morning I’d try to have a better look at my wound.  There was no way that I’d let something like nearly dying stop me.  I still had to help Jubei.

+++

My eyes drifted shut easily after that and I barely remember what I dreamed, but when I woke, the first thing that I noticed was the body that was pressed up against my side.  I felt with my left hand against a muscled thigh, running my fingers along the barely covered skin.  I remembered how this body had been pinning me down to the floor of that room in the bar.  This time, however, he was draped across me, keeping me warm, just as I’d asked him to do the night before.  That time in the bar he’d been faking sleep to let me get close so he could attack.  I’d let my guard down then, just as I was doing now.  I continued letting my fingers explore as much of his body as they could while I had the opportunity.  When it came to Magoichi, only a fool would pass up the chance to touch him.  My hand met bare flesh and I splayed my fingers out, letting my senses enjoy the moment.  I didn’t even know where I was touching him, but I loved every minute of it, and if I got caught I could always say that I’d been dreaming.  His arm tightened around my waist and I quickly closed my eyes, putting on the best sleeping-expression I could muster.  I was prepared this time!

“Kotaro?” his voice was still crusted with sleep as he shifted beside me, leaving his arm draped over me.  “Wake up, Kotaro,” I felt him move his hand from my waist to my chest and begin rubbing his rough fingers along my bare skin.  I shivered at his touch.  Was it really as innocent as he was making it out to be?  I stilled the movement of my hand on him but still continued to feign sleep.

After a few long moments he stopped rubbing me and rested his hand against my chest.  I could feel the weight of his gaze on me and it was torture to not be able to see what he was doing.  After what felt like forever I cracked my eyes open a fraction, just to satisfy my curiosity.  He was right over me, but he was looking past my face, instead looking at my wound.  His eyes were intent in their scrutiny, visibly unaware that I was watching him.  The heat from his body was wrapping me up in his scent and I just wanted to lose myself in him.  That's probably why I suddenly tilted my head up and kissed him like I did.  The first time he'd kissed me, he had been rough and none too gentle.  The power he'd had over me was intoxicating, but I just couldn't help initiating the contact this time.

He was unprepared and I took full advantage of it, snaking my tongue into his mouth while wrapping my uninjured arm around his neck to pull him closer to me.  His reaction was instantaneous and he pulled away from me, much to my disappointment.  The horror that I expected to see on his face was absent, instead leaving only a shocked expression that held some amusement as well.  "Can't get enough of me, can ya kid?"  He said, leaning over me again and carefully pressing his lips against mine.

This time he was in control.  It helped that I'd surrendered it to him the moment his mouth touched mine.  I wanted it and parted my lips to give him access as he snaked his tongue inside to gently lap at my eager mouth.  I was still aware of the dull ache of my injuries that I felt whenever I moved my body too much, but he seemed to know this and kept me pinned to the ground with a strong hand.  After a few minutes he pulled away from me, leaving me breathless and feeling light-headed.  He looked down at me with lust-clouded eyes, "Kotaro, you're still injured."

"I don't care," I almost shouted.  He felt so right against me, I didn't care if it hurt me a little.  He just shook his head and pulled away from me, standing up to walk around to my injured side. 

So, he didn’t want to hurt me?  I guess that was a noble thing, but I couldn’t very well tell that to my desire that was burning between my legs!  This wasn’t over between us, I promised myself, as I lay back down and tried to will my body to relax.  He began to remove my old bandages and I could see that they were still fairly clean, save for the spots of blood that marked parts of the cloth.  That was a good sign.  Once he'd removed all the bindings, I slowly turned my head to look.  Magoichi seemed pleased as he applied some healing powder to a large gash in my shoulder.  "Doesn't look that bad," I said, finding it easier to move my head than I could last night.

"Yeah, well, if I hadn't shot the blade away from you it would be a hell of a lot worse.  Right now, you should be fine in a day or two," he said with a shrug, "that is if I can get some more of this healing powder.  I'm running low on it."  He shook the container of it to prove his point.  “You should be fine by tomorrow,” he continued, dumping the last bits of powder onto my shoulder and pulling fresh bandages out of his pack.

“Great,” I said, “What do I do until then?”  There was no way that I’d be able to lie around all day doing nothing.  My stomach growled loudly at that moment to announce that I was hungry.  “So, is there anything to eat around here?  Or will I be bored and hungry?”

“I have a few rations, but most of the food in the village was destroyed by fire from the attacks,” he said apologetically.  He tied off my bandages and reached for his pack.  “All I have is this,” he said, passing a tightly wrapped package to me.  “You need your strength if you’re going to get better.”

I held the bundle in my free hand and tugged at the knots with my teeth.  Once I opened the cloth I hungrily bit into the dried meat and bread inside.  It wasn’t the tastiest thing, but it was good enough to quiet my stomach for a while at least.  “Thanks,” I said, realizing all too late that I hadn’t saved anything for him.  “What about you?” I asked, feeling guilty for eating all the food so quickly.

“I’ll live,” he said with a shrug.  “I’ve gone hungry before.  It’s no big deal.”  I heard a low growl and gave him a look.  I felt really bad for eating all his food.  He must have been starving for his stomach to be making noises like that.  “Wait here,” he said suddenly, grabbing his gun and walking to the doorframe.  Hadn’t that been his stomach?  I struggled to sit up, with more success than I’d had before.  It seemed that as long as I kept my injured side straight I could move about without much pain.  The powder he’d used must be really good at healing, or just effective at blocking out pain.  Either way, I managed to get to my feet without too much trouble just as Magoichi burst back into the room.  “Kotaro!  We have to get out of here,” he said, looking back over his shoulder.  The noise I’d heard earlier was growing in pitch. 

He rushed over to me, grabbing my armour and pack and handing them to me.  “What the-ow!” I cursed as he grabbed me and pulled me out through another doorway.  “What’s going on?” I asked.  He didn’t answer and continued to pull me down a narrow passage towards another door.  “Ow-Magoichi!”  I stopped running and tried to pull my hand away from him.  He’d said before that I was too injured to fuck, but now it was fine for me to go running around the house?  I pulled again, trying to get him to release his grip on me, which would have been fine any other time, but I was still weak and lost my balance, crashing against the wall.  My shoulder screamed at me and I crumpled to the floor like a doll as the waves of agony washed over me.

“What are you doing?  They’re right behind us!”  He was yelling, pulling me to my feet and half-carrying me down the hall.  I couldn’t be sure what was going on anymore as the pain overtook me.  I let him take me wherever he wanted, looking behind us to see the outlines of many genma pouring into the room that we’d been in moments before. 

We burst into a room with a doorway that led outside.  I didn’t know if I’d be able to make a run for it in my condition, but instead of going outside he steered me to a hole in the ground.  I wanted to ask why, but there was no time and he pushed me in before following behind, his guns blazing behind us as we fell into darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

As I fell into darkness I let my ninja training take over and I managed to land on my feet just as the door snapped shut behind us.  At least we wouldn’t have to worry about the genma that had chased us to this place because I was really in no shape to fight.  I slumped to my knees, wrapping my free arm around myself.  The pain I’d experienced earlier from slamming into the wall was intensifying and I was having trouble focusing my vision.  It was going to be difficult to heal if we had to keep running from demons.  I was dimly aware of Magoichi crouching behind me and I let myself lean back against his chest, relaxing into his embrace.  I hated being so dependent on someone else, but it seemed that I had little choice.  His soothing words helped calm my nerves and it was a while before I was able to see clearly again.

After what felt like forever my eyes focused in the dim and I could see that we were in a tunnel.  The torches that lined the walls showed that the passage stretched out before us and turned off some distance ahead.  A ladder was mounted onto the solid rock behind us and led up to the trap door we’d fallen through.  At least we’d be able to defend against whatever came out at us next.  Or at least, Magoichi would.  I took a deep breath, forcing the pain to the back of my mind so that I could worry about other things.  “Magoichi?” At least I didn’t sound as awful as I felt.

“Kotaro, are you feeling alright?” his voice was calm but I could tell he was hiding his worry from his voice.

I nodded a bit but did not move from my place against his chest.  It was reassuring to have his strong arms around me, holding me and keeping me from hurting myself.

“Well, I guess we’re not going back up there,” he said with a chuckle before his voice became serious again.  “Did you hurt yourself?”

I closed my eyes, leaning my head back against his shoulder.  “No, ninjas always land on their feet.”

“I thought that was cats,” he said, sighing heavily into my ear.  “We should get out of here.  I don’t know how sturdy that door is.  We don’t want to be here when the genma come looking for us.”

He must have taken my silence for refusal to move because he tightened his grip around me and stood, taking me with him.  I set my feet on the ground the moment I could.  I may have been tired and felt awful but I wouldn’t let myself be carried.  Not while I was still conscious.  I tried to take a step forward but felt suddenly dizzy and let him hold me for a bit longer.  “I’m fine,” I said, after a long moment.

“Yeah, whatever you say, Kotaro,” he said, bending down to grab my armour and pack.  He tied the bag to my waist and draped the armour over my shoulders, being careful of my injuries.  It added some warmth to my chilled body and I was grateful for that little thing as we started along the tunnel.  I tried to tell him that I could walk on my own, but he ignored my protests, never moving his hand from my waist and I was glad that he knew better than to listen.

We had just started along the passage when we found a trap in the floor.  It had already been tripped and now a pit full of sharp stakes blocked our way, the only problem remaining being the distance between us and the opposite side.  Magoichi might have been able to jump it, if not without some difficulty.  I would have had no problem jumping across that short distance if I had been feeling better.  As I was, any attempt to jump would end up with me meeting those sharp stakes close up.  God, I hated being injured. 

In this situation any selfless hero would have told Magoichi to go on without him.  They would have stayed behind and waited for the genma to come and fight them to the death while Magoichi pressed onward to help Jubei.  Unfortunately, I’m not a selfless hero.  There was no way that I’d let the gunman away from me.  I still had too much to live for to be left behind in that place.

“Any ideas?” he asked after we’d been standing there for a few minutes.

“I’m thinking,” I said.  There wasn’t anything in the ceiling or walls that I could attach any rope to.  There was nothing to be used to build a bridge.  If I’d been feeling better this wouldn’t have been a problem, but I was having trouble focusing.  I closed my eyes, trying to remember the training that my master had taught me.  There was that whole lesson about surviving while wounded, but I’d never thought that I’d need to know it.

I stared across the space, wondering what the hell I was going to do when a figure caught my eye.  He was across the pit and walking towards us with his cape flowing behind him and a large sword in his hand.  “Well, well, well.  It appears that I’ve found some worthy opponents,” he boomed towards us, stopping just at the edge of the opening.  “Here I thought that I’d have to track down Jubei to have a little fun too.”  I snapped my head to look at Magoichi and winced as my neck hurt from the movement. 

He tensed too and looked out at the demon that had appeared there.  “Who are you?” he demanded, loosening his grip on me as he reached for his gun.

“I’m glad you asked!” the demon declared, leaping across the pit with little effort.  He glided through the air, his white hair never moving out of place as he landed a few feet from us.  “I am Gogandantess, the greatest swordsman of all demons!”  He spoke with such arrogance, but judging from his appearance he probably deserved that claim.  Most of him was a ghostly shade of white, except for some odd, red colourings around his jaw and neck.  His armour was impressive and I sensed some odd power coming from it.  There was no way that Magoichi and I could survive a battle with him, at least not while I was this badly wounded.

“Sounds like you like to talk big,” Magoichi said, taking me back a step.  “What do you want?”

“You are Magoichi Saiga, Captain of the Saiga gun team, are you not?  I’ve heard that you like to believe that the gun is mightier than the sword,” he said this with a flourish of his own impressive weapon.  He brought the blade vertical to his eyes, seeming to look over the detail of the metal before swinging it out to point towards us, “I’m here to prove you wrong!”

Magoichi snorted and took another step back, putting us with our backs against the passage wall.  “Do you really think you can beat me?” he asked, leaning me against the rock before turning back to the demon.  “Lets find out!”

“Magoichi, no!” I called once I realized what he intended to do.  I felt so useless leaning against the wall, just watching as he stepped out and pointed his gun at the demon.  “Don’t fight him!  I have a bad feeling…”

“Don’t worry, Kotaro,” he said, turning back to wink at me.  “I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”

“As do I,” the demon said with a chuckle, pausing to give a show of thought.  “Perhaps we could make this more interesting.  Let’s up the stakes, shall we?”

“What did you have in mind?” Magoichi was all ready for a fight and it was obvious that all of this talk irritated him when he was ready to go.

“You are following Jubei,” the demon said matter-of-factly.  “He has already left for the sacred place of the Oni.  There is no way that you will get there in time.  If you win,” he said, pointing his sword at the gunman.  “I will take you two there.”

“And if I lose?” It was obvious that Magoichi didn’t like the looks of where this was going and neither did I.

“If I win,” Gogandantess said with a laugh.  “When I win, I get him,” he pointed his sword at me and my blood turned cold.  If Jubei had already left, then this could be our only chance to get to him, but if Magoichi lost… I shuddered at the thought of what horrors the demon would have in store for me.

“No deal!”  Magoichi growled.  “We’ll find out own way to the Oni place, we-“

“Magoichi!”  It was difficult keeping my voice firm, but I had to.  “If he’s telling the truth, then this may be our only chance.  I couldn’t even figure out how to cross over this pit.  How do you think we’d get to the sacred place of the Oni?”  I took a deep breath, finding it difficult to keep my focus again.  “Even if you lose, you will still be alive to find a way there.”  I didn’t mention the part about how he wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore, either.  If I’d been healthy then we wouldn’t even be in this situation to begin with.

“Such a selfless act,” the demon said with a bow, casting a toothy grin towards Magoichi.  “Sacrificing himself for his friend?  I will enjoy him after this!”

“Shut up,” the gunman growled at the demon.  “First; I’m not going to lose to you, and second; I don’t bet with other people’s lives.  Kotaro, we’ll find another way-“

“Magoichi,” I said calmly.  “There is no other way.  Not if we want to get there in time to meet up with Jubei.”  I looked at him and in his eyes I could see that he knew this already.  “Either way don’t worry about me.  Just fight him, okay?”

He nodded and I could see he was angry.  I was angry too, but I doubted that his reasons were the same as mine.  I was angry at myself.  Jubei had been right.  I’d let myself get distracted and been hurt because of it, and now Magoichi had to fight this guy because of my stupid mistake.  I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but I couldn’t bring the words to my mouth.  I could only watch him as he smiled at me before turning away and that look told me everything I needed to know.  He knew.  We were both sorry for the stupid situation.

He turned from me and they faced off against each other.  The demon, Gogandantess, took an attack stance that I didn’t recognize and struck out with blinding speed.  Magoichi barely had time to bring his rifle up to block the blow as metal bit into wood and they were locked together in a test of strength.  I could see the gunman’s muscles tensing from where I was standing and I wondered at the effort it took to meet the demon in such a way.  Gogandantess didn’t look like he was trying very hard at all and they broke apart after only a few moments, leaving Magoichi breathing heavily while the demon waved his sword around some more.  “I’ve heard so much about you, Magoichi,” he purred as he spun his sword around.  “Why haven’t you fired your gun yet?  Don’t tell me that in your heart of hearts you know the sword is better?”

“You’d like to think so,” he said with a sneer, dropping down to one knee.  “I’m just getting warmed up!  Feel my power!”  At his words his gun turned red, growing in strength and he aimed it at the demon.  “You can tell me I’m better after I blow you apart with this, demon!”  He pulled the trigger, sending out constant, powerful blasts from the muzzle of his weapon.  The bullets shot out straight at the demon but seemed to deflect off his armour at the last second.  The barrage of bullets did not stop even after the gun had returned to normal, but it didn’t seem that they had even touched him.

“Oh, you’ll have to do better than THAT if you want to prove that your little guns are better than my sword,” Gogandantess said while looking lovingly at his blade.  He brought the metal to his lips and made a show of kissing it while Magoichi looked at me with an expression of worry. 

Whatever power the demon had was preventing him from getting even a scratch.  “That’s not fair!”  I yelled.  How could Gogandantess actually think that it would be a fair fight if he was using demon magic against us?

“Actually, it’s entirely fair,” he laughed, swinging his sword with flourish.  “If you were truly better than me then you would have found a way to beat me.  I suppose it can’t be helped,” he shrugged.  “The only person I really expected to beat me was Jubei.  He’s getting so strong.  Well,” he said, seeming to remember where he was.  “It sounds like you’re admitting defeat.”

“How can I beat you if I can’t even hit you?” Magoichi yelled, pointing his gun at Gogandantess and taking a shot.  The bullet flew through the air and bounced off the breastplate, landing on the ground.

“It sounds like you’re giving up.  Don’t feel bad,” he said, walking towards me.  I felt my stomach knot up as I realized what he was doing.  “At least you get out of this with your life, and there is still a way to get to the sacred place of the Oni.”

“This isn't over!  Kotaro!"  I watched as Magoichi tried to run towards me, but the demon's hands were on me first.  He made no consideration for my wound as he grabbed me and I cried out as he dug his fingers into the wrappings, forcing the wound apart.

"We had a deal, and you lost," he said with finality.  He lifted me up and roughly tossed me over his shoulder and I moaned as I felt my skin tear apart under the rough treatment.

The pain was fogging my judgment, but through it I knew that I had to get away.  He was going to take me and in all likelihood kill me.  Demons had a taste for human flesh and I was probably going to be the main course at a feast in his honour.  I tried twisting, but he held me firmly against him and I was too pained to do anything more.  I weakly turned my head to look at Magoichi.  He was running towards me as I was carried off and I just wanted him to get me out of there.  "Magoichi..."

"I'm not finished with you yet!" he yelled, aiming his gun for the back of the demon's head.  "Don't take him!"

Gogandantess turned, and I couldn't see what he did, but I heard Magoichi lower his gun, dropping it on the ground.  "Nobody likes a sore looser," he said to the gunman.  "Kotaro would have died if he'd stayed with you anyways.  There should still be a way for you to get to Jubei if you hurry.  You've just got to know where to look."  He shifted against me and then turned and I saw Magoichi again before I was carried away. 

I knew that he'd get to Jubei in time.  He'd help take down Nobunaga and I shouldn't worry.  I'd told him to take the wager, knowing that whether or not he won or lost it would get us closer to our goal of defeating Nobunaga.  "Don't worry about me," I said, as brave as I could.  The last human I'd see was Magoichi, with his gunpowder and tobacco smell and rough hands.  He'd never hold me down on the ground and kiss me roughly like he'd done before, his bronzed skin pressing against mine as he lapped at my throat.  I looked into his eyes for the last time and saw the anger that burned in them.  I'd never seen him so angry before in the time that I'd known him.  He was always so calm and reserved, but now I saw his true face of battle.  It was the last time I would see him and that anger was burned into my soul as Gogandantess carried me away. 


	8. Chapter 8

I must have lost consciousness, but whether that was from the overwhelming pain at the lack of care that Gogandantess showed me, or some spell on his part, I did not know. The first thing I noticed was that I was draped over something that was traveling over the water at an incredible speed. I lifted my head to see that Gogandantess had me on his lap as he maneuvered some sort of machine over the ocean.

"Oh, so you're finally awake." He said it with his usual grandiose way of speaking. "I'm so glad. I was worried that you were more damaged than I'd initially thought." I tried to say something, but felt so weak that I couldn't even draw enough breath to speak. "You should be happy," he continued, "at least one of you will make it to the ruins of the place of the Oni." I turned my head to look to where he was pointing, wincing at the pain as I saw an island appear out of the horizon of water. It was rocky and barren, with massive carvings cut into the rock that hung out over the water like some twisted monument. As we approached I had to look away. I couldn't bear to twist my head at such an odd angle for long. I let my head hang against a well-muscled thigh and watched the dark water rush past us.

The next time I opened my eyes I was lying on a bed. The pillows were piled high around me and I was wrapped up in furs and blankets. I stretched out my legs, poking my feet out from under the covers and reveled in the comfort. I felt my flesh brush across the soft fabric and suddenly I realized that I was naked. Where was my armour? I sat up, remembering the fight between Gogandantess and Magoichi and knew that wherever I was I should get out. Demons had a taste for human flesh and I didn't intend to let him eat me. "Did you sleep well?" the voice startled me and I turned my head towards its owner.

"Where am I?" I asked, looking at the oddly coloured demon sitting in a chair by the bed. I glanced around the room, quickly trying to locate my weapons, but could not see them. The room was sparsely furnished, with only a few torches for light, the bed and a fire roaring near the far wall. It didn't matter. I was still skilled at hand-to-hand fighting even though I knew he had a definite advantage in that area.

"You're in my chambers, of course," he said with a nod. "Magoichi did a good job healing you, but I'm afraid my patience is short when it comes to waiting for humans to heal on their own. I applied something a little more effective to you."

I looked down at my shoulder, suddenly aware of the lack of pain that I felt. The bandages that covered my shoulder were clean and free of any blood. My muscles felt wonderful and I tried moving my arm to see if it was true for the rest of me. There was something wrong with this picture. Why was Gogandantess healing me if he was just going to kill me? I cut my eyes back to him, keeping my glare in place, "What do you want?"

He laughed, "Why, you, of course!" He stood up from his seat and leaned over the bed, planting his hand beside me for balance to get even closer. I shrank back into the pillows, trying to get away from him as he loomed over me. "While there are many uses that I have for you, there is only one that I can think of at the moment. Do you know what that is?" His tongue snaked out of his mouth, impossibly long and slimy as he dragged it across my cheek. I closed my eyes and turned my head away. Even if I did have weapons, I knew they wouldn't do me any good. Magoichi had shot him without effect. I couldn't get out of this through fighting. Magoichi. Even while I began to panic under Gogandantess' hands my mind still wandered to him. How long had it been since we'd been separated? A few days, maybe? Even with the demons' magic it still would have taken a while to heal the wound in my shoulder. Would this have been enough time for him to find Jubei? Or would he have even found a way to get to this place? If he had, then he was close by! I tried to squirm away from Gogandantess' bulk as he leaned further over me and I quickly rolled over to the other side of the bed.

Once my feet hit the stone floor I had trouble standing. "What have you done to me?" I demanded, clutching to the side of the bed for balance.

"Oh, nothing yet," he said, stalking towards me with predatory grace. "I would imagine you're feeling weak because you haven't eaten for a few days."

I felt my skin prickle, goose bumps forming as the cool air washed over me and reminded me of just how naked I was. My muscles felt so weak as I tried to take a step. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since Magoichi had given me his remaining rations. So much had happened in the short time since then and now I was Gogandantess' prisoner, and soon enough his meal, or worse.

The white demon was nearly upon me, the look in his eyes showing his true intentions. I'd wanted to run the moment my feet hit the floor but I was trapped in his gaze as he descended upon me. It wasn't like the time that Magoichi had physically overpowered me and held me down as he'd taken advantage of me. I'd wanted him to do it then, even though I had been scared. No, this time was completely different. Gogandantess held me in place with only a look and I was terrified of what he'd do to me. No words would make him stop. I almost wished he would eat me and leave out the pain that he'd decided upon.

He stood dangerously close to me, looking down at me with eyes that smouldered with desire. I could feel myself begin to tremble as a gloved hand reached out to stroke my skin. I hated him. I hated myself for being so weak in front of him. It would get a lot worse than him touching me lightly and I steeled my resolve for what was to come. I raised my eyes to meet his, looking into those black pools with as much bravery as I could muster. He wouldn't feed on my fear so easily.

"My, my, such a brave look," he said, leaning in closer to me, his arms wrapping around my body and holding me close to him. "You know, there are some who would kill to be in your position." I felt his tongue lap up my neck before delving inside my ear. I stared straight ahead, my eyes unfocused as I fought the urge to shudder under his touch. If I reacted it would excite him, but it was torture to do nothing as I felt his breath in my ear and his gloved hands traveled over my body. "You know," he breathed, sending shivers up my spine. "When I'd first challenged Magoichi I'd had entirely other plans for you. " I felt his hand on my rear, a gloved finger tracing down the cleft, pushing in further. I clenched my jaw, fighting to remain impassive as he attempted to seduce me. "You would make quite the attractive demon, you know," he said, pressing the gloved finger against my entrance.

The intrusion helped draw me out of the haze I was slipping into, "What do you mean 'demon'?" Was it even possible for him to turn me into one of those monsters?

"Mmm, but I think I like you like this," he purred, cupping my face in his free hand. "At least for now." He leaned forward and forced his mouth onto mine as he continued to tease my ass. I tried to pull back, but his hands held me firm and I could only twist ineffectively as his tongue invaded my mouth, overwhelming my senses. He tasted like metal; cold and sharp, his teeth biting down on my lips, promising more if I fought back. I knew I shouldn't have, but I bit him as hard as I could. It was too much and I pushed against his chest, trying to get him away from me if only to show him that I didn't want this.

The hand was removed from my ass and he pulled his mouth from mine, a dangerous glint forming in his eyes as he looked down at me. "I must commend you," he said, his voice hinting at his anger. "Not too many humans can resist me," his mouth twisted into a grotesque sneer, "but you are pushing your luck!" He lifted me into the air and pushed me onto the bed. I fell on my back, my legs splaying out as I landed, leaving me open and vulnerable as he began to crawl on top of me. I twisted and tried to crawl away, clutching at the blankets for some purchase in my futile struggle. He straddled my legs, holding me down with such strength that I found it hard to breathe as he continued to push his hands into my chest. I stilled my struggles, knowing that if he pushed for much longer that I would lose consciousness, and that was something that I couldn't afford to let happen. Not while lust still burned so fiercely in his eyes.

"Oh, Kotaro," he said with a condescending tone. "You don't seem to understand the situation. You agreed to go with me if Magoichi lost, and he did." I already knew this, but did he really think that I'd just let him do whatever he wanted without a fight? "There are much more unpleasant things that I could do to you. Would you prefer it if I were to take you down to Guildenstern's laboratory? He's promised a technique that turns humans into genma, but I question the validity of his claims. He is very skilled at creating all forms of beast and monster, but I doubt that he could elevate something as lowly as human cattle into a demon." His eyes flashed with dangerous intent as they raked across my body. I could feel the weight of their gaze on me but did not dare to move. Not while he was talking of such things. "I'm sure that there are many other tests that he would love to try on you, but you belong to me and the only way he will get you is if I give you to him," he purred, his voice becoming softer and more seductive. "Do you understand?"

I nodded, feeling the lump in my throat suddenly very difficult to swallow. A cold sweat had broken out over my body and as much as I hated to do it, I relaxed my body to show him that I understood what he was saying. In his own twisted mind he probably thought he was being generous by offering rape over torture. The only reason I chose him was because I had some idea of what lay in store for me. Gogandantess seemed to have some code of honour that he stuck to, whereas the rumours that I'd heard of Guildenstern told me that I would be out of my mind to choose his hospitality. I shut my eyes tightly, tilting my head back to give the demon better access to my throat. I was shivering, but for once it wasn't because of the cold. My life was in his hands and that terrified me.

I felt his hand on my stomach, but it was different from before. The soft leather was gone and I felt the harder skin of his bare hand as it splayed out on me, dragging across to my side and up to my chest. I squeezed my eyes tighter, clenching my jaw to keep from whimpering and fighting to keep my breathing steady. He could do whatever he wanted but I wouldn't let him see how he was affecting me. I didn't want this. There was no way that I could want this but my body reacted to him anyways. My cheeks were burning with embarrassment when he reached down to rest his hand on my hardened length. I waited for him to move, but he didn't. That hand held me firmly as if it was waiting for something. After a few minutes I opened my eyes to see what he was waiting for.

"That's much better," he said the moment I looked at him. "I'd hate to think that you're imagining that I'm somebody else." He emphasized his words with a firm squeeze, sending a shiver down my spine and causing me to cry out. He tilted his head to the side, seeming to enjoy the sound I made and I quickly shut my mouth, biting my tongue to keep from opening it again. "Oh, Kotaro. Please don't keep your beautiful voice to yourself. I want to hear you enjoying this." He leaned down over me, his face inches from mine. His eyes were unreadable.

"What makes you think that I'd enjoy this?" I asked past clenched teeth as he stroked me again.

"Well, you don't have to enjoy it," he said, releasing me and seeming to think for a moment. "But, if that's the way you want it then I suppose it can't be helped." He climbed off the bed and turned to look at me, an aura of complete control surrounded him. "Get off the bed and help me remove my armour."

His voice was cold and deadly, holding no room for argument. It was not a request, but a command. I found my limbs obeying him, climbing off the bed, even in my hungry and weakened state. He didn't look at me as I approached him. Instead he ignored me as he waited for me to undress him so that he could continue to rape me. I reached out to feel along his breastplate, trying to find the latches that held it on. It was unnerving to be completely ignored when I was standing right in front of him. I still felt weak and when I finally removed his plate armour I found that it was too heavy for me to lift. It fell to the floor with a deafening clang and I snapped my head back up to him to gauge his reaction. I took a step back, legs shaking as I saw those dark eyes looking down on me with such distain. His lips curled up into a sneer and I took another step back. He was a demon. I don't know why I'd let myself become lulled into a false sense of security by all his pretty words and chivalrous behaviour. He was a demon and demons killed humans. I quickly bent down to try and lift the plates, not entirely sure where I'd put them, but I desperately wanted to get away from him at that moment.

His hand caught my wrist in a grip that caused me to cry out in pain. He lifted me to my feet, forcing me stand on the tips of my toes as he pulled my face closer to his. The silence between us was screaming at me and it was made worse by the fact that he didn't say anything. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the blow that was to come but he just held me there, scrutinizing me as I hung in the air. I cracked an eye open to see what he was doing and the moment I did I felt the back of his hand across my cheek.

He'd put his entire strength into the hit. I knew he had because I flew backwards onto the floor and tasted blood in my mouth. If he hadn't used his full strength then I was in trouble. I spat blood on the floor, rolling over only to see him bearing down on me. He flattened me on the floor, pressing a knee into my chest and I had to struggle to breathe. I frantically tried to push his knee away, looking up with wild eyes into his cold, calculating orbs. His hand drew back again and I braced for the hit, my cheek stinging when the skin tore under the blow. "Are you still enjoying this? I would hate to think that you would enjoy your time with me. Not when you made it so painfully clear that you don't want to," he hit me again. "Should I try harder then?" his voice was light and condescending and I wished he would sound angrier. I could live with a beating, but he had much more planned for me and the cold aura he exuded was what worried me the most.

He removed his knee from my chest and straddled my waist, reaching down and roughly flipping me over so that my face was pressed into the floor. I'd said I didn't want to enjoy this and he was going to make sure that I didn't! Tears began to slide down my cheeks when I heard him draw his sword behind me. The singing of the metal as it was freed of its sheath rang in my ears, nearly deafening the sounds of my own pleading for him to stop.

He pulled my hair, tilting my head painfully back as he brought his sword around my neck and pressed the blade against my throat. My pleas were silenced in that simple action and I let the tears slide silently down my cheeks.

"On your hands and knees." I struggled to obey, my hair still in his painful grip, keeping my throat next to his blade. Once I'd managed to raise my ass in the air he spread my legs, kneeling between them and forcing them even wider apart. A flick of his wrist had the flat of his blade pressed against my throat, still painful but without the fear of being decapitated. He released his grip on my hair and I felt his hand move to my ass. The blade against my neck kept me from moving away from his fingers as they spread me open. It was difficult to breathe and I bit my lip, tasting the blood that filled my mouth and I tried to ignore him as his fingers probed my entrance.

The blade against my throat held back most of my cries. Instead a gurgling sound was all I could manage as he roughly pushed a finger inside me. The blade pressed tighter against my throat and, for an instant, I hoped that it might kill me so that I wouldn't have to continue with the humiliation. Gogandantess seemed to know exactly what he was doing and always kept the blade firm against me, but not enough so that I could kill myself with it. I was trapped between the sword and the demon, and the demon was pushing his fingers further inside of me. I couldn't cry out and clenched my jaw in frustration, biting on my lip again. The pain was incredible and I began to see the world fading. He was pushing his fingers into me without anything to ease their passage. I might have been grateful that he was bothering to prepare me at all, but it was a humiliating torture in and of itself. I'd lost my erection long ago. There was nothing enjoyable about what he was doing to me. The room was eerily silent and I could hear the blood rushing past my ears as I felt myself begin to panic. I tried to lift an arm up to push the blade away from my throat. I'd die fighting if I had to, but I wouldn't submit to him anymore. I gripped the blade, pushing it away as best I could, but his fingers ripped out of me and his hand was buried in my hair again, pulling back as far as I could bend. I cried out, losing my grip on the blade and it was brought against my neck with even greater force. My vision began to fade even more as I was slowly strangled, his grip on my hair never loosening. If he would kill me then I could be free. I prayed that Magoichi would be able to find a way to Jubei, or at least find a way to the island. Here I was dying and again I could only think of that man. Images of him flashed past my mind's eye. I could feel his anger when Gogandantess had carried me away from him that last time. I could still hear his voice in my ears, commanding and rough and angrily demanding that Gogandantess let me go. I suddenly realized that we weren't alone and turned to see his frame standing in the doorway, pointing his gun at the demon, his eyes blazing with rage.


	9. Chapter 9

I'm not sure what happened next.  All I know is that the blade was suddenly ripped away from my throat and I could breathe again.  I collapsed on the floor, gasping in the sweet, delicious air past my bloodied lips.  It was painful to breathe and I knew it would be even more difficult to speak.  I climbed to my feet, clutching at my throat and quickly turned to see Magoichi and Gogandantess facing off again.

Magoichi had his weapon drawn and was pointing it at the demon.  His expression startled me with the intense hatred that was being focused towards my captor.  His breath was coming in short, his muscles tensing.  "I'll fight you again if I have to," he said, voice shaking with rage.  "I'll do whatever it takes to get you away from him."

I took a step towards him, wanting to fall into his arms and let him take me away from there.  Any other time I would have wanted to stand on my own, but Magoichi made me feel safe and I needed him right then.  Of course, I wasn't trying to be quiet when I stumbled towards him and the second I moved Gogandantess turned and blocked my way.  "You couldn't beat me before," he said, reaching out to grab me by the arm and pulling me towards him.  He held me against him, my back pressed to his chest, and spun us around to face Magoichi.  I looked helplessly into his eyes as Gogandantess ran his hands along my bare chest.  "Why should I give up this exquisite plaything?  You lost him fair and square."  I turned my head away when the demon spoke to him.  I couldn't bear to look into those dark eyes anymore.  I was so humiliated as the hand traveled lower to my hip, fingers splaying out to reach even lower.  I felt a cry catch in my throat but only a muffled sound escaped my lips as I felt new tears wetting my cheeks.  It hurt to cry.  "Don't tell me that you're the sore loser type," the demon continued.  "Oh, I never would have thought-"

"Shut up!" Magoichi yelled suddenly and I closed my eyes at the sound, tears leaking down my face.  He should be off helping Jubei, but here he was saving me instead.  Even though I didn't want to be raped, I didn't want him thinking that I was some child that needed saving either.  The realization that he thought so little of me hurt even more than the sword against my throat had.  I balled my hands into fists, trembling, as I stood naked before them, just wanting to disappear.

"We can work something out," Magoichi continued.  "There's got to be something you'd like more than Kotaro."  I expected to hear desperation in his voice, but was surprised when it was instead controlled and laced with anger.

Gogandantess shifted against me, his hand beginning to stroke my hip as he made a sound of thought.  "Whatever did you have in mind?"  He was amused!  Of course this was all a game to him.  Humans were little more than cattle to demons like him.

"Let him go first," Magoichi said and I braved to look back into his face.  His eyes glowed with apprehension and resolve.  "Then we can talk in the other room.  I have a proposition for you."  He had a plan.  I knew it!  But I had no idea what it might be.  I held my breath, waiting to hear what Gogandantess would say, praying that Magoichi would get out of there with his life, and if I was lucky, I could do the same.

The hands on me were removed and I was left to stand on my own.  "I doubt that anything you could offer me would be more delicious than Kotaro," he hummed as I slumped to my knees on the floor.  "But it wouldn't hurt to listen.  I'm afraid that I was a bit too rough on him in my excitement.  He'll need to rest if he's going to survive what I have planned for him next."  My head was buzzing and I felt numb as I listened to his footsteps move away from me and through the doors.  Magoichi came up to me, but my throat hurt when I tried to speak so I looked up to those dark eyes, trying to tell him that it was hopeless to reason with a creature like that.  I'd never see him again.  Gogandantess would kill him and then come to finish with me.

"I... don't worry Kotaro," he said, picking me up and carrying me over to the bed.  I felt my throat tighten up as I began to cry again.  I cried for him.  For the situation.  He pressed something into my hand as he leaned over me to plant a chaste kiss on my lips.  The moment our mouths touched I instinctively wrapped my arms around him and drew him against me, opening my mouth to invite his tongue inside.  Our last goodbye had been so sudden.  This time, I would make it count.

When he finally pulled away from me he stayed a moment and I memorized the way he looked at me then.  It was softer than before and tinged with sadness.  I opened my mouth to speak but he turned away from me before I could try to say anything.  His steps were hurried as he left the room, closing he door behind him and leaving me alone. 

The bed was comfortable, but even while I was surrounded in comfort I just couldn't fall asleep.  The torches burned around me and set eerie shadows across the stone walls, keeping me at my guard.  A long while past but I couldn't hear anything from the other room.  I crept over to listen at the door and heard muffled voices but couldn't make out any words.  The room was scarcely furnished and I found myself returning to the bed after I'd inspected all the corners and shadows, looking for a weapon, or even a way out.  I looked at what Magoichi had given me before he left and realized that it was a tightly wrapped package of strong medicine.  It tingled as I swallowed it, its magical properties starting to work instantly to ease the ache in my throat.

After that I waited, even though it killed me to sit around on my ass.  There was nothing I could do and I wondered what Magoichi could have to say that would keep Gogandantess listening for so long?  I rested my head on the pillows, saving my strength for whatever was to come.  My throat was starting to feel better and I was grateful for that small thing.  Even though I could swallow easier, I still knew the medicine wouldn't stop it from bruising.  I touched my fingers to my neck, curious to find out if it still hurt to touch.  I lightly pushed the spot where the sword had been threatening to crush my windpipe.  It was swollen and I gently trailed my fingers across the skin to my shoulder, feeling the deep scar there and realizing just how badly that demon in the forest had cut me.  If it hadn't been for Magoichi I would have been dead.  Would he need similar help from me once he'd finished with Gogandantess?

A sharp cry tore my eyes to the door, setting my blood to run cold with fear and I was on my feet in an instant.  I ignored my hunger and how weak I felt.  I couldn't just sit around while he was being killed!  I ran to the door, pulling with all of my strength to try and open it.  The moment I touched the ancient wood, however, a demonic field appeared, repelling me back and keeping me from interfering in whatever was going on inside.  "Magoichi!"  I cried, hitting the barrier in desperation, "Magoichi!"  It was his voice I'd heard.  I knew it!  I kicked the door but the field glowed bright and threw me back across the room.  I flew through the air until the sickening sound of flesh hitting stone resounded in my ears and I fell to the floor.  The pain spread across my back and I winced as I climbed my feet, prepared to run at the door again.  The loud bang of the barrier being removed stopped me in my tracks.  The icy grip of fear froze me and I couldn't move, my eyes glued to the door.  It was over.  I bit back the tears that threatened to fall.  Magoichi was dead... it was my fault.  My foolishness... oh god, it really was all over.  In that moment, I felt more alone than I'd ever felt in my life.  The silence that followed the removal of the barrier stretched on forever.  It fueled my anger, setting my heart to beat faster when I finally heard the door being pushed open from the other side.

The light from the other room was bright as it spilled into the darkness and I couldn't clearly see the figure that stood in the doorway.  He took a step towards me and as my eyes adjusted to the change in light I felt my heart skip a beat, "Magoichi!"  I ran to him, wrapping my arms around his muscled frame to prove to myself that I wasn't dreaming.  He was alive!  I squeezed him as tightly as I could; ignoring my nakedness and any discomfort he might have felt because of it.  I wouldn't let him go this time.  His arms came up around me and I melted into him when he hugged me back.  It was that simple confirmation that made me happier than I'd ever felt in my life.  "Where is Gogandantess?" I looked up at him to see his eyes lose their happy gleam at my question.

He loosened his grip on me, "That guy..." he trailed off.  I could hear his heart beating fast, "He's left."  It had seemed as if he'd wanted to say something more, but in the end he'd summed it up into two neat words.  I noticed that his hands were empty, free of their usual metal appendage and his armour hung open to reveal his chest.  He was damp with sweat and I felt him shiver when I trailed my hands up his clothed back.  What had happened?  I nuzzled his neck, happy to be safe for the moment.  "Thank you for saving me," I whispered against his salty skin.  I felt him stiffen under my hands, his arms tightening their grip around me.  "Is something wrong?"  He didn't have to answer.  I already knew something was very, very wrong here.  "What did you do to make him leave us alone, Magoichi?"

I looked up, but his eyes were shut and he'd completely closed himself off from me.  Finally, after a long moment he pulled back, reaching up to run a hand through my hair and I leaned into his touch, peering up at him from beneath my bangs.  He looked down, his dark eyes meeting mine and he sighed, "Nothing important."  He turned from me then and I felt the cold as he left me standing naked in the middle of the room.  "We should get moving," he said, turning back to me a second later, his voice controlled again as it usually was.  "Do you know where your clothes are?"

I didn't know.  Gogandantess had stripped me while I was unconscious and for all I knew they'd been thrown away.  "I don't know, but I'm not fighting naked!"  I turned from him, knowing his eyes would take advantage of my nakedness, but when I peeked at him a moment later he wasn't even looking at me.  He was staring off towards the fire, a distant look in his eyes.  I stepped close to him, sneaking into his line of vision, "What's wrong, Magoichi?"  I had to know.  "Did that demon say something to you?"

He took a deep breath, not looking away from me, but I had a feeling he was looking through me as he thought.  Finally he breathed it out, almost a whisper, "Yes."  He reached out to grab my shoulders, holding his breath as he peered into my eyes with firm resolve, "But I can't tell you," he sighed, "I'm sorry, Kotaro."  He looked back to the fire, his eyes full of sadness.  "It's eating me up inside.  Something terrible will happen, but I won't let it," he faced me again, his gaze burrowing into mine.  "I'm not leaving your side again," his words carried more emotion that I think I'd ever heard from him before.  "Now… lets get out of here," he spoke quickly and turned to leave and just like that the conversation was closed.

+++

I followed him through the doors into the room beyond.  There were many candles and torches lighting up the room and showing off the elaborate furniture that was neatly arranged on the stone floors.  The ceiling stretched up high, nearly escaping the flames that licked up the walls to reach it.  Several large mirrors were mounted on thick frames and bolted to the walls, keeping us within their reflections wherever we went.  I couldn't walk far without catching a glimpse of my body and I felt myself blush with embarrassment as I saw my nakedness.  "It would be nice to find my clothes sometime soon!" I called out as I watched Magoichi walk over to an overturned bench to pick up his weapon.  I watched him move, doing little to hide my interest in him as he bent over.  He lifted his weapon up to prop against his shoulder and turned to face me with those dark eyes.  I trailed my gaze down his body, letting him see the way he affected me.  I walked up to him, my bare feet making little sound over the floor as I stood dangerously close to him.  My hand came up to feel his chest, fingers splaying out as I kept my eyes locked with his.

I wanted to forget the feel of Gogandantess' touch.  I cringed when I remembered the feel of his fingers inside of me and I needed to erase it.  I needed to overwrite his memory with a more pleasant one and I needed Magoichi to do that.  I felt my member harden as my hand traced down his chest, feeling the solid muscle tensing under my fingers.  This time, there was nothing that would stop me.  I looked up to his eyes, telling him exactly what I wanted at that moment, and let his eyes wander further down my body to see what I needed.  I bowed my head forward, licking at the bared skin of his chest, feeling the shiver that ran through his body.

"Kotaro…" he was speaking, trying to push me away.  "Kotaro, we can't…"

I ignored him, gripping him tightly and holding him close to me, latching my teeth onto a nipple.

"Kotaro!" he said, pulling me away from him and holding me at a distance.  "What do you think you're doing?"  He was angry, his eyes boring with fire into my heart.  "That demon almost raped you and you want to fuck in his bedroom?!"

He released me roughly, taking a few steps away from me.  I couldn't believe this!  "What's wrong with that?"  I was mad too.  What pissed me off was that he didn't think I could handle it.  To him I was still a child who needed someone to take care of him!  "Don't you think that I know what I want?"

"It's not that," he said, keeping his back to me.  "You just don't get it."

"How the hell should I get anything when you don't tell me what the hell is going on?" I said.  "I've been stuck with Gogandantess for days, haven't eaten in that time because he didn't think to feed me.  He took my clothes and kept me naked in his bed and then you expect me to know what's happened since then?  I'm not some child, you know!"

"That's not it, Kotaro," he said, turning to me.  "It's not always about you, you know."

His words stopped me dead like a slap in the face.  It was about him?  "So," I stammered, my throat tightening, "Since he touched me, you don't… you…" I turned away from him quickly, my blood boiling.  Like Magoichi was pure!  I couldn't help it if that demon had touched me!  It's not like I'd asked him to violate me!

"That's not it at all, Kotaro," he said, lightly placing his hands on my shoulders.  "Let me finish first."  I turned to face him, deciding to hear him out.  Maybe I had jumped to conclusions.  Maybe things were more fucked up than I thought.  He bowed his head, taking a deep breath.  I felt my anger melt away when I saw the difficulty he was having in speaking.  Something was really bothering him.  "Kotaro, after what Gogandantess said… I don't want to think about it, but…"

"I know, you can't tell me either," I sighed.  I'd been the one who had wanted to get that demon off my mind, but it looked like Magoichi needed something to help him forget as well.  He'd been so confident in himself when I was watching him in Imasho, but now it seemed as if that part of him was gone.  We both needed to forget the one who had brought us here.  I looked into his eyes, grinning suddenly as an idea came into my mind.  "You say you won't leave me?" I asked in all seriousness.  "Well, I'm not going to leave you either."  I made sure he was looking at me before I sank to my knees in front of him, reaching up to remove his lower armour as quickly as I could.

"Kotaro," he said, voice warning.  "I thought I said…"

"Hey," I cut him off, "I don't do this kind of thing for just anybody."  I hoped I knew what I was doing as I set his armour aside and freed his member.  It was what I'd wanted to help me forget.  I hoped this would distract Magoichi for a little while as well.

"Kotaro," this time my name was less a warning on his lips as I stroked his length.

"Maybe we both need to forget for little while," I whispered, lightly blowing on the tip of his cock.  I think that ended the argument right there because he stopped protesting and leaned back against the wall, letting me do as I pleased.  I closed my eyes and stuck out my tongue, trailing saliva down the underside of his cock as my lips left wet kisses along the hardening flesh.  I kissed further along the length, breathing in deeply when my mouth reached the base where the bed of curls tickled my mouth.  I loved how he smelled like musky gunpowder.  It overrode all my other senses and I lapped at the base of his cock for a while longer, just smelling the arousing musk and imprinting it to my memory.  I wanted to remember him more than anything else.  He was so strong and willing and eager as I kissed my way back up to the tip of his cock and placed my lips around the end.  His hands were in my hair, holding me still and I opened my mouth to let him push his way inside.  When had I lost control of the situation?  I'd wanted to be the one to pleasure him, but I realized that I enjoyed it better when he was in charge.  I relaxed my jaw as he inched inside and I heard the grunt of satisfaction as he reached the back of my throat.  He stopped and I guess he didn't think that I could take anymore, but I wasn't going to let it stop there.  The medicine had worked and since I wasn't in pain anymore I swallowed him down my throat, taking him fully into my mouth until my lips were buried in the bed of curls at the base of his cock.  The groan that I wrenched from his lips at the simple action went right to my own forgotten need. 

I pulled my head back and thrust down on him, swallowing him whole in one movement.  I smiled when I felt his hands tighten in my hair and his hips begin to move.  He knew exactly what to do.  I released my grip on him, reaching down to teasingly feel along his inner thighs as he set his own pace with his thrusts.  My fingertips danced over his muscled legs before I reached up to cup his balls, rolling them gently in my hands.  If it weren't for his cock in my mouth, I would have grinned at the sounds he made.  It seemed that he liked me playing with him while he fucked my mouth.  I gently tugged on them, rolling them between my hands, feeling them shift when I applied pressure.  He groaned loudly, the sound raking over my ears and causing my cock to shiver as it bobbed in my lap.  I squeezed his testicles in one hand and reached down with the other to alleviate the delicious tension that had been building between my legs since my knees had touched the floor.  I groaned long and hard as my fingers quickly worked the part of me that I was so intimate with.  My thumb found the wetness that was leaking out of the tip and spread it around the head.  I shuddered when I scraped my nails under the head, sending the nerves there on fire.  Normally I would have been calling out his name, but my mouth was busy and I could only moan around his quivering flesh.  His actions were becoming more frantic.  He gripped my head tightly, snapping his hips forward and back, fucking my mouth in a way that just spurred my own desire onward.  I released his balls, gripping my manhood with both hands, frantically tugging on it as I felt the tingling prelude of my release begin to spread through my belly.  I gasped for breath, my throat swallowing his cock as he fucked my mouth, his breath coming in short as he neared his own release.  He thrust into me, his nails digging into my scalp and pushing me to my limits.  I strained my eyes to look up at him, seeing his brown eyes trained on me the entire time that I was sucking on his cock.  His eyes were clear and focused, his lips moving silently in some sort of mantra that he breathed between the delicious sounds that I wrenched from him.  He was what I wanted.  His strength and his determination attracted me to him like no one else ever had.  Oh god, he was so beautiful.  I choked out a cry, tugging roughly on my cock to milk the essence that spilled from it.  Waves of orgasm swept over me and I forced a shuddering groan around his flesh as I saw white light flash behind my vision.  I was dimly aware of his cock twitching between my lips as he ground his pelvis against my mouth; his cum leaking down my throat and my name on his lips. 

He was calling my name?  I had screamed his name in my mind as I'd felt the peak of my release, but I'd never thought that he would be one to vocalize mine.  My body was shuddering in the aftershocks of my orgasm but my ears heard him continue to repeat my name over and over again, as if reaffirming that it was me on my knees before him.

I swallowed a few times, milking the last drops of cum from him before drawing his length from my mouth and letting it hang between his legs once more.  I was still breathing heavily as I stood, the experience far more tiring that I'd thought it would be.  "Kotaro, I…" he started, but I just leaned up and kissed him, pushing my tongue past his lips to let it slide against his.  His hands came up to hold me and I pressed my body fully against his.  When I pulled away he had a faraway look in his eyes.  "It is you," he said, as if realizing it for the first time.

"Um, yeah," I said, confused but I couldn't stop smiling.  Did he think I'd be someone else?

"Never mind," he said suddenly.  "That was amazing, Kotaro," he stammered, brushing his fingertips along my cheek.  I leaned into their rough touch.

"Well," I said with a smirk, "Now you're stuck with me.  I'm never leaving you alone now!"

I saw the smile tug at his mouth and I just wanted to laugh.  It had been so long since I'd seen him look at me like that.  "I told you, Kotaro, I'm not leaving your side.  There is something that I have to do."

"That's fine," I hummed, bringing my hand close to my face to see the essence that was trickling along the back of my wrist.  "We're stuck together then.  If I left you, then you would complain to Jubei that I'm a slut, which I'm not."  I looked into his eyes while bringing my hand up to my mouth, teasingly snaking my tongue past my lips to lap at the jizz to prove my point.

His hand gripped my arm, pulling it up to his lips and I was mesmerized by his lips as they descended upon the back of my hand, moving over the cream that was still coating my skin.  If I hadn't just spent myself I knew that the sight of him doing that would have me ready to go again.  I'd tried to be in control of the situation, but he didn't even have to ask to get me to submit to him.  I was his.  It wasn't the other way around.  It was so different from when Gogandantess had had me.  I shuddered, stopping his tongue from its seductive display on my hand.  "Kotaro, what is it?"

I shook my head, "When Gogandantess had… when he…" I was remembering again.  Our brief escape from reality had ended and now I remembered the bruise on my throat, the rough hands as they'd pushed their way into me, the humiliation.  "Don't let him take me away like that again, alright?"  I hated sounding weak and asking for things that I should be able to handle myself, but I wanted to hear him say it. 

"Kotaro," he started.  His voice dropped in tone and in that instant he was deadly serious, "No demon is ever touching you again."  I felt the venom in his voice as he spoke, as he said the word demon.  It wasn't just about Gogandantess.  It was as if he had found a hatred for all demons.

I started to ask why but he cut me off, "Kotaro, you wouldn't want to hear it.  Trust me."  He was back to his usual gruff but kind voice and I was happy just to hear that.  I nodded my understanding.  "Now," he said, looking around.  "Let's find your clothes."

+++

I was happy when I found my armour poking out from a chest that held a disturbing collection of similar pieces of armour and clothing that did not belong to me.  I reached into the mass of tattered clothes, my hand pushing past the dried blood and other stains that I couldn't identify.  I shivered when I thought of how many other humans that demon had taken to his bed.  How many had resisted like I had and been killed for it?  I pushed the disturbing thoughts aside, instead pulling my armour out from the mess of cloth and broken weapons.  The material was rough on my skin as I slid it on, my joints settling into their familiar creases and I quickly fastened the clasps, grateful for the warmth and protection.  My weapons were not far away, tucked into a dusty drawer with my pack.  It seemed that Gogandantess had had other plans for my blades, but I eagerly took them back, the cool metal familiar in my hands as I attached them to my belt.  When I was finally dressed I turned to see Magoichi watching me.  His eyes held a look that I would have mistaken as fear if I didn't know him better.  The look only lasted a split second and he was leading me out of the room, hopefully back the way he'd come to rescue me.

The passageway out of Gogandantess' rooms was well lit and while I couldn't see any enemies, my senses were on alert anyways as we climbed the tunnels out of that place.  Something wasn't right.  Where were all the demons?  I could smell the dampness leaving the air as we continued climbing, but the odd energy that seemed to follow the demons wherever they went still hung like an unpleasant smell.  They were still there… but where?  We continued on until a large, impressive door stood before us at the end of the tunnel.  I knew that this would be the way out.  It had to be because the demon energy was stronger here.  I gripped my kunai tightly as Magoichi pushed the door open to reveal a large room beyond.  The room was bright and I pressed myself against the wall, trying to see any enemies that might be ready to attack us, but once my eyes had adjusted to the light I could see that we were completely alone.  We entered the chamber, my eyes darted around to find any hidden traps, but my attention was immediately attracted to the intricate carvings along the walls.  It was impressive in size and the intricate details that were carved into the stone were just as stunning.  Their detailed surfaces led my gaze to an impressive machine that sat at the centre of the chamber, surrounded by pillars that reached up to the ceiling.  I cautiously approached the device, keeping an eye out for genma as I looked more closely at its layered surface.  "Who do you think built it?" I asked, trying to hide my excitement.  We were still in danger and here I was getting giddy about some mysterious construction.  I couldn't help it, it was impressively huge, and I had to crane my neck to see up its surface to the top.  Its length was even greater, stretching along and nearly filling the length of the entire room. 

I looked back to Magoichi.  He was looking at the structure as well, but with more controlled interest.  I could still see the questions dancing in his eyes when he flicked his gaze along the length to the other end of the room.  "Probably the Oni.  This is their sacred place…"

"Weird," I mumbled, reaching out a hand to feel along the convex surface.  It was made of wood!  "Looks kind of like a boat," I mumbled.  I wanted to find out more, thinking at the very least that we could use it to defeat Nobunaga!  I turned to ask Magoichi what he thought, but before I could ask I heard something that sent alarms off in my head.  I think he heard it too because we both bolted as fast as we could to rush behind the pillars just as a genma appeared where we'd been standing moments before.  I leaned into Magoichi, my hands reaching for my weapons, prepared to strike if that demon even began to go near us.  I could smell his gunpowder and knew that he was loading his gun for the fight.  I watched the demon for what felt like forever as it inspected that area of the structure before suddenly marching away.  I looked at Magoichi and knew that we both had the same idea.  We rushed after the demon, being sure to stay in the shadows and out of sight.

I led the way this time while Magoichi followed behind.  I guess it was because I'm the ninja and know how to stay hidden.  I have to admit, though, he was pretty good at keeping up, for a non-ninja, I mean.  We trailed the demon to a section of the boat that had an opening in it and watched it disappear inside.  This was it!  I quickly looked around to make sure that no other genma would appear before making a run for the opening.  Magoichi was a second behind me and I could see from the glimpse I got of his face that he wasn't happy.  I was inside the opening and ducking into the darkness in seconds.  There were genma nearby but I doubted that they knew we were there… yet.  Magoichi stumbled in behind me and I grabbed him, pulling him against the wall as a demon walked past us.  "Kotaro, what the hell do you think-!" I put my hand over his mouth, keeping him quiet as I strained to see where the demon went.  I let go of Magoichi and followed it, but stopped soon after as I heard a human voice speaking.  Magoichi stopped behind me and we leaned forward, trying to hear what was being said by the high, irritating voice.

"Get to your post!  Do you know what our lord would do if he caught you wandering around the ship?"  I heard some low, grumbling sounds and I assumed it was the demon speaking.  The mysterious voice made a noise of disapproval, "So you thought you heard something outside?  No excuse!  Jubei is almost here with that Odani woman and we can't afford to be unprepared when they show up to activate the airship!"  The demon's armor rattled loudly as I heard it run off further down the hall, leaving the unknown human behind.  I stayed in my place, listening to find out where he was going next. 

I didn't notice Magoichi stepping out from the shadows until it was too late.  "Tokichiro Kinoshita," he said slowly, biting out the name with venomous anger.  "What the hell are you doing?"

I ran out after him.  Why the hell had he revealed our presence?  I was about to rush out to ask him, but his hand came up, telling me to stay back.  I stopped in my tracks, even though I wanted to run up and smack him.

"Magoichi!"  The man exclaimed, obviously startled to see us there.  "I didn't expect to see you!  You're not supposed to be here!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but what the hell is this?"  I let Magoichi do the talking.  It seemed like they knew each other from before.  I just hoped he knew what he was doing.

Even though this Tokichiro guy was short, it didn't stop his mouth from spilling over with threats.  "This," he said, gesturing to the walls around us.  "Is what will bring Nobunaga's enemies to their knees!  No one can stand against a flying battle ship!"  This guy was slimy and I didn't like him.  He was human but he served the demons!  He reminded me of men I'd known back in Fuma village.  Their whiney voices grated on my nerves as they clamored for power, and their bony hands turned my blood to ice as they tried to pull me into their beds.  This one was different, however.  His yellow eyes told of sleepless nights spent toiling for power, his twisted and wiry frame shaking with glee as he taunted us.  "Even though there is nothing you can do to warn Jubei and Oichi, I can't have you wandering around the ship either!"  I saw him move but was too slow to stop him from pushing a hidden button in the wall.  He laughed as the floor beneath us gave way and we fell into a room below.

It wasn't that far of a drop, but far enough to keep us from getting out the way we'd come!  I looked up in time to see that hollow little face looking down at us, his crooked smile laughing as he left us there.  Great.  Exactly what we'd needed to have happen!  I looked at Magoichi, wanting to blame him but sighing and giving up before I even opened my mouth.  It wouldn't help matters.  I just hoped he'd have better suggestions for our situation than I did.  I gave him a questioning look, but he only looked at me a grinned, "Well, looks like we're trapped, kid."

Oh yeah, he knew exactly what I'd wanted to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Enemy of my Enemy - Revelations](http://archiveofourown.org/works/169349) is a 'meanwhile' story that shows exactly what Magoichi did to convince Gogandantess to leave them alone. Not necessary reading for the story, but full of smut if you're in an NC17 mood.


	10. Chapter 10

The door snapped shut behind us and I looked around in the semi-darkness.  We seemed to be in some sort of dungeon, if you considered a room without doors and a rock-solid floor a dungeon.  "So," I started, turning to Magoichi, "You really don't have any ideas?"

"It's your turn to come up with the ideas," he told me, leaning against he wall and pulling out his pipe.

I sighed and nodded, walking over to inspect one of the walls.  I was the ninja after all.  There had to be a secret trick or something.  There was no way that they'd just drop us into a pit!  I checked along the wall every few inches, hearing the solid thunk that told me that the section I was checking was too thick.  The smell of tobacco met my nose and I glanced at Magoichi as he leaned against the wall, the ember in his pipe glowing whenever he inhaled.  I was admiring the way it lit his face and nearly missed the shallow sound that my fist made as I tapped a section of our prison.  "Magoichi!" I tried to hide the excitement from my voice.  "This wall is thin.  Do you have a bomb or something we could use to break through?"  He came up behind me and I stepped aside, watching as he laid his pack down on the ground and opened it up, pushing aside a few books and bottles before pulling out several long tubes.  I recognized one of the books, since it had been the one that I'd seen Jubei give to him.  "What's this?"  I asked, picking up the tome that had caught my attention. 

I opened it and squinted my eyes to try and read a page or two.  His hands shot out to try and grab it from me, but I was too fast.  I twisted out of his reach, trying to read the characters on the page.  The section that I was able to see in the dim lighting made me smirk and I wondered why he would have something like this with him.  "I didn't know you liked erotic stories," I said, pretending to be shocked.  Magoichi didn't seem like he was the type to enjoy those kinds of things.

He grabbed for the book and I let him take it from me.  I had no interest in stories about men and women.  "Jubei gave it to me," he said, tucking it into his belt before setting aside several tubes and packing everything back into his bag.

He might have thought the discussion was closed when I'd let him take the book back, but I was still curious.  "So," I said, crouching next to him as he worked on mixing the contents of the bamboo containers.  "Have you read it yet?  I didn't know you liked women as well as men."

I was just having fun, since he seemed to be defensive about it.  "Whatever," he shrugged.  "I was going to trade it away anyways, but you can have it if you want." 

He was pretty good at lying, but I knew he was uncomfortable, so I pressed the issue.  "I don't like women," I said with a frown.  "I don't want to read about what other men do with them."

"Fine," he sighed, pouring some powder from one tube to another.  I could almost hear him rolling his eyes at me.  "I found some food," he changed the topic.  "You might want to eat something."  He reached into his pack and handed me a large bundle, tightly bound in leather.  My stomach growled at the offer and dropped the topic, tearing into the package and hungrily biting into the dried meat and bread that was inside.

It was just like the last time I'd eaten, only this time I remembered to share.  "Here," I said, passing the bundle to Magoichi as he worked on his bomb. 

He nodded his thanks, grabbing a piece of meat before waving the rest away.  I watched him work, his hands expertly grabbing at his collection of tubes and mixing their contents together in a larger bamboo container in front of him.  The smell of gunpowder was in the air, along with a few other smells that I didn't recognize.  He packed the various tubes away and capped the larger one that held the mixture.  "I'm almost finished here.  It should break a hole in the wall..." he trailed off as the room we were in began to shake.  "What the-" I grabbed for the bomb before the room lurched to one side, throwing us to the ground.

"What's going on?" I asked, reaching to grab my kunai but at the last second thought better of puling out something sharp when we were on unstable ground.

"The ship!"  He shouted as he fell into me.  "Didn't Tokichiro say something about Jubei activating the airship?  Maybe it's taking off!"

"Yeah," I said before falling against the wall.  The room rocked to the side one final time before suddenly stopping.  "What now?" I climbed to my feet, holding my back where it had hit the wall.

"Well," he said, "If this is an airship, then maybe we're flying.  It would be smoother ride once we're in the air.  Which means..."

"We should get out?"  We ran back to the spot that I'd decided was thin enough to break through.  I passed the bomb to him and watched as his fingers worked quickly to set it up against the wall.  His movements were so sure that I felt useless beside him.

"Alright Kotaro," he said, twisting some strings coming out of the tube.  "Go to the other side of the room.  Once I set the fuse I'll be right behind you..."

I didn't need to be told twice and hurried to the opposite wall and pressed myself against it and prayed that he knew what he was doing.  I saw him take a few steps back, turning away from the blast that sent pieces of the wall everywhere. 

I rushed over to the opening, peeking my head outside to see if there were any demons waiting for us.  It hadn't been a large explosion, but I knew that it wouldn't go unnoticed.  We didn't have much time.  The air in the hallway had the same feel as the place of the Oni, with a foul mix of demon energy and stale air.  I was about to pull my head back to let him know the coast was clear when I felt the energy shift, a warning that a genma was about to appear.  I drew my blades, readying them for the upcoming fight.  "Magoichi!  You might want to get ready!"  I jumped through the opening, just as several lower level demons appeared.  I took a defensive stance, backing up to put solid wall behind me.  Two lunged at me and were blown against the wall by a gunshot from the opening that I'd just climbed through.  "Get out here, damnit!"  I called to him.  I cut into two demons in front of me, turning them both to dust in one hit.  "Magoichi!"  There were more demons appearing and we had to move.  Magoichi climbed gracefully through the opening pointing his weapon at the group of demons appearing to one side of us.

"Seems we hit a hot spot!" Magoichi called to me, his gun glowing red as he powered it up.

"Well," I said, dodging a downward swing of a demon's blade.  "I'd love to stay and fight, but we really do have more important things to do."  I drove my kunai between its armour, sending it reeling.

"Yeah, I thought you'd say that," he grinned.  "I wanted to try out some new firepower on these guys too, but you're probably right.  That Tokichiro is more important than a few of these weaklings."

We killed the demons that stood in our way as we ran down the corridor, losing our balance and falling against the walls as the ship changed course suddenly.  We tried climbing up the ladders between the levels to reach the main deck, but even with my skills it was difficult.  I mean, even the best ninja has trouble finding his way through a flying demon ship!  All the corridors started to look the same and I started randomly opening doors to see if there was any ways to get to the main deck that we'd seen when we were in the Oni chamber.  The demons had stopped appearing after we'd been running for a while and now it was quiet, with only the hum of some machine deep within the ship softly reverberating through the walls.

I knew we were close.  I could feel it when I pushed open a stained red door.

"Kotaro," Magoichi said, stopping as the door swung open to show that this was another empty room.  "I hate to ask, but... do you know where we're going?"

"Damn!  I was sure that this would be a way up!"  I looked around for something to hit; this was so embarrassing!  I hated being wrong and looking like an idiot.  "This place is a bit tricky.  The Oni built this thing with a completely different layout than anything I've seen before.  I can't really help it if I can't find the access ports to the upper levels right away."

"Right away?"  There was a hint of amusement in his voice that irritated me.  "Kotaro, you've been leading us around in circles for half an hour."  I glared at him.  He didn't have to actually say it.  "Your sense of direction sucks."

"If you think you could do better, then let me see you find a way out of here!"  I was getting madder than I should have.  There was no way he'd be able to get us out of there without my help.

He smirked and walked back out to the hallway.  I followed behind as he walked down the corridor, stopping beside a door.  When we opened it and walked inside I just wanted to scream. 

"Looks like I make a better ninja than you, Kotaro.  You might want to find something else to do with your life."

"Shut up."  I was sour.  "That was just dumb luck."  I mumbled, crossing my arms as Magoichi walked over to the stairs that led upwards.  I glared at him as he put his foot on the first step, noticing that there was something wrong with them.

"Don't!"  I cried all too late as he continued to climb.  I began to rush over to pull him away, but an explosion threw him into me and we fell backwards.

Everything happened so quickly, but the moment I could I climbed to my feet and crouched next to him to see how he was doing.  "Magoichi!  Are you alright?"  He mumbled something, but I couldn't understand him.  "What?  Magoichi?"  I rolled him onto his back to see his injuries, expecting the worst, but was surprised when I didn't see any blood.

"It's okay, Kotaro."  I looked up to his face, a mixture of seriousness and amusement in his eyes.  He began to stand up, but I held him down.

"How the hell did you survive that?  That trap should have taken your legs off!"  I kept my hands planted firmly against his chest; I wasn't going to move until I got answers.

"Relax, Kotaro.  I've had things blow up in my face before.  I know how to take the blow so that I don't get injured.  Anyways, my armour helped me there too, so I'm fine."  He gestured down and I could see the metal that covered his legs and feet was caved and scorched.

Something wasn't right with the situation.  Why would he try to climb the steps without checking?  He wasn't a ninja, but that didn't mean that he couldn't recognize a trap if he saw it!  He'd known I'd been following him in Imasho; he could see things that were out of place.  I watched him sit up and dust himself off, my thoughts leading somewhere I didn't want to go.  My logic was screaming that he'd known it was there.  There was no way that someone who'd seen as much battle as he had would miss a trap like that.  Had he seen it but... ignored it?  Why the hell would he do something like that?  "Magoichi," I started, choosing my words carefully.  I'd never had a skill for involved conversation, but I had to ask.  The possible reasons for his actions making my blood run cold.  "It's incredible that you missed that trap.  It was quite obvious, even to someone like you."

"Was it?" he shrugged, and I could tell he was distracted.  "I didn't notice.  Guess my mind was wandering there."  He climbed to his feet.  He was completely passing it off as nothing.

"You saw that trap, Magoichi!"  My patience sucks, I know.  "Why the hell did you walk on it?  That was a stupid thing to do!  If you're going to keep doing shit like that, then we're going to die the second we run into any demons that can really give us trouble.  I'm not strong enough to carry you to safety!"

I jumped to my feet, reaching out to grab his arm and spinning him around to face me.  "Kotaro," he started, his voice warning.  "I have my reasons, alright.  I knew I could survive it.  It was just a little thing anyways."

"I could have disarmed it," I saw where this was going.  "I am a ninja, you know.  Avoiding and disarming traps are one of our specialties."

"So I disarmed it instead.  What do you care how it was done?"  He shrugged his shoulders, as if to dismiss the discussion.  He went over to the stairs again and glanced back over his shoulder, "So, are we going to get going now?  Nobunaga's not going to wait for us, you know."

"Whatever."  I mumbled, climbing the stairs behind him.  He was acting so weird, it was really annoying me.  It was really unlike him to be this way.  I mean, sure, I'd only known him what, a few days?  But I'm a pretty good judge of character, and I knew there was something on his mind.  "You know," I said, hurrying so I could walk beside him.  "You can tell me if you didn't see that trap.  I won't think any less of you." 

Nothing.

I was going to find out what was going on.  I never knew when to stop prying, "Magoichi are you going to-!"  The ship lurched violently to the side, throwing me against the wall and backwards down the stairs.  I rolled down the steps and smashed into the floor at the bottom. 

I climbed to my feet as fast as I could, grasping at the handrail to pull myself back up as the ship continued to shake around me.  I could see Magoichi further up the stairs, carefully climbing back down towards me.  What the hell was he doing?  "Magoichi!  We have to get to the next level!"  I redoubled my efforts to pull myself up the stairs so that he would keep moving.  It was hard with the floor rocking under my feet, but I managed to climb to the top.

"Kotaro, we have to get out of here," he said, making his way down the hallway and opening random doors.  I knew what he was doing and tried a few doors myself, but they were all empty rooms again.  "Kotaro!  Over here!"  The door he'd opened led out onto a balcony that let us see what was going on.

"Where the hell are we?"  I don't know if he heard me over all the noise.  I could barely hear myself as I followed him outside.  The wind was rushing past my ears and the explosions sounded louder here, but I didn't notice them the moment I realized what was going on.  The ship was crashing into a building.

"It's Gifu!" I heard him yell as he pressed his mouth to my ear.  "We have to get out of here!"  I nodded, rushing over to the railing and gripping it for dear life.  Everything was shaking around us and there were loud explosions from deeper within the ship.  I didn't know how the hell he expected us to get off of the ship but it was up to me and I wouldn't blow it.  We were still a long ways from the ground and I looked around, desperate for any ideas.

It was odd, but at that moment everything seemed to slow down.  I could think clearly and see the possibilities as the hallway behind us collapsed.  My hands instinctively reached for my grappling hook and I looked around for something solid to attach it to.  Everything was crumbling.  Pieces of wood were flying past me as the hull smashed through a roof.  I threw the hook towards a promising target, feeling the tension in the rope as the metal bit into wood… or whatever I'd thrown it at.  I didn't have time to care.

My hands were white knuckled as I gripped that rope, feeling Magoichi hold me close as he took hold of the line as well.  We leapt together off of that balcony, the rope tightening and pulling us away from the exploding airship as it crashed into the side of Gifu castle.

I ignored the ship and focused on the rooftop that we were approaching fast.  We'd have to let go of the rope at the right moment, otherwise we'd miss and hit the wall.  There's a talent to landing; it's not so much knowing when to jump, but a feeling you get that tells your hands to let go of the rope at the right moment.  I wasn't sure if he'd know when that moment came and I prayed that he would know enough to follow my lead.  He was incredible and had probably done this many times before, but I still hoped that everything would work out as I watched the roof approach and readied myself to let go.  I didn't notice Magoichi tighten his arm around me until it was too late and he was pulling me with him as he jumped.  Too early.

Everything happened so quickly after that.  We landed, barely clearing the roof I'd been aiming for.  I turned to Magoichi, "What the hell-?!"  An explosion above our heads cut me off and I looked to see pieces of the ship falling towards us.  My feet froze in place and I couldn't think of what to do.  I was hypnotized by the flaming wood and metal as it smashed against the castle towers.

I felt Magoichi pulling on my arm.  "Kotaro!"  His voice broke through my shocked haze and I turned to him, grabbing his arm.  We dove out of the way, narrowly escaping the first pieces of ship that had broken off and crashed into the roof where we'd been standing.

I climbed to my feet as fast as I could and looked over at Magoichi to make sure he was okay.  I swear it felt like we shared the same thought when we turned and ran as fast as we could as more wreckage fell around us.  The floor was shaking under my feet, sending me falling onto the ground.  I climbed to my feet just as Magoichi took hold of me and lifted me over his shoulder.  He turned and ran, carrying me away from the flaming wreckage, barely missing being hit by the stone from the collapsing walls.  Being carried by Magoichi was just like when Gogandantess had taken me away with him.  If I hadn't been wounded then Magoichi wouldn't have had to cut a deal with that demon.  I'd been too weak to do anything to save myself, and it was the same when Magoichi carried me away. 

I watched the airship crash to the ground behind us with a deafening sound.  We would have been dead if we'd let go of the rope any later and it sickened me to think of it.  I hadn't even thought of the burning ship falling onto us until Magoichi had pulled me away from it.  I'd been too busy thinking about him.  I was always thinking about him, always letting myself get distracted as I wondered how he was doing in the same situation.  In the end it was just something else that I'd screwed up, but I realized that I couldn't let it happen that way for much longer.  I'd been having trouble with regular demons.  Nobunaga, or any of his demon knights, wouldn't leave any room for distraction in a fight.  I couldn't let myself get killed before I avenged my village. 

When Magoichi finally set me down, I couldn't even look at him because I was so ashamed by my latest screw-up.

"Kotaro, are you okay?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, folding my arms over myself.  God, I hated the feeling I got when I realized that I messed up big-time.  "Sorry…"

"Sorry?" he looked confused but it still felt like he knew what I was thinking.

"For… that…" I motioned back the way we'd come.  I should have anticipated everything.  How would I hold my own in a fight if burning wood could kill me?  I was a danger to Magoichi as well as to myself.

"The hell you talking about, Kotaro?  If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have gotten away from there in time."

"But I didn't see-"

"Just forget it, alright?  We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to get into the castle."  He was already adjusting his rifle while looking towards the tower where the ship had crashed.  I couldn't just forget it!  It proved that I wasn't as great as I thought I was.

"You were right," I mumbled, keeping my eyes turned away from him.  "I can be pretty stupid.  I'm the chief of the Fuma clan and I'm supposed to be the best, but whenever I try, I just screw it up.  If you weren't around, then I'd be dead!"  I clenched my jaw out of frustration.  Speaking the words was more difficult than just thinking them.

"What are you talking about?"

"Back in Imasho you told me that if you weren't around that I'd be dead.  It's not that I can't take care of myself, you know," I looked down at the ground, fixing my gaze on my feet to keep from looking into his eyes.  "It's only when you're around that I get distracted.  I can't help it.  I like you."  My heart was beating in my ears, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear what he'd say.  I'd been on dozens of successful missions before and I'd never let myself get distracted.  Sure, I liked having fun and messing around, but I was all business when the time came.  This time was different; I couldn't stop thinking about him.  I worried about him because he wasn't a ninja.  Could he survive where I knew I needed to go?

"When did I say that?" he grabbed my chin, tilting my gaze up to meet his.

"After you saved me the first time," I said, pushing his hand away.  I didn't need his help.

"Is that what you're mad about; because you needed my help a few times?  God, Kotaro, I thought we were working together here!"

I'd wanted to work with him.  God knew I liked being with him and I didn't want to leave, but I knew that I had to refocus my mind.  He was as much of a distraction to me as I was to him.  He could find Jubei and help him better if he didn't have to worry about me, and I could sneak in close to sabotage Nobunaga somehow if I didn't have to worry about him either.  I wanted to finish this mission before I started thinking about Magoichi too much.  I strengthened my resolve and looked up to his eyes,  "We need to split up."

"No!" He surprised me with the force he put behind the word.  "Absolutely not!  Kotaro, I don't…" he trailed off.  I looked at him closely.  I hadn't expected to see the fire that burned in those dark orbs. 

"What?  Why not?"  I'd thought that he'd agree with me since it would increase the chances of our success.  His body language told me that something was on his mind but that he was still serious in staying together.

"If I tell you, it might change the way things happen," he sighed," I don't even understand it, but I have to let things happen the way they were meant to.  It's the only way that I know how to stop… it…"

I blinked, "Stop what?"  Now I was confused.  "Magoichi, what the hell are you talking about?"  I stood there with my arms crossed over my chest, waiting for an answer.  He could have been poisoned and was hallucinating.  I hoped not.  There wasn't any time to cure him, even if we did find some medicine in time.  In any other situation I would have been bugging him until he told me what he meant, but this time I held my tongue.  I didn't know everything, but I knew when listening would get me farther than talking, and I could see that he needed me to listen.  Well, either that or to just shut up so he could think. 

He took a deep breath and looked back to me, his eyes showing his determination.  His voice was so low that it was almost too quiet for me to hear, but the words were too difficult to miss.  "You're going to die, Kotaro."

+++

I wanted to laugh.  I really did, but I knew that just by the tone of his voice that he believed what he'd said.  I took a step closer.  "What?  Are you sure?"  I kept my voice neutral.

"Yes," he turned from me, giving me a bad feeling when I saw how odd he was acting.

I didn't know what to say, it was too weird. He wasn't the type to believe stuff like that.  Hell, he wasn't the type to say things like that jokingly.  I really didn't know what to say. 

I took a calming breath, trying to figure out what he meant.  Thinking that maybe he'd been poisoned.  I quickly shook my head, nearly smiling at the idea.  Jumping to conclusions wouldn't help, but I didn't know why else he would be acting so strangely.  He was so quiet as I tried to understand his reasoning and I suddenly felt the weight of the silence between us.  I had to say something so I said the first thing that came to mind, "How is it going to happen?"  I could have done better question-wise, but it seemed like the least-stupid of the thoughts in my head.  'Are you going crazy because you were poisoned?' wouldn't have helped the situation and we were running out of time.

"I don't know.  That's the problem.  He never told me that much... just enough to let me know that..." he shook his head, raising a hand to rub the back of his neck.  He?  Could he have meant… oh god, I knew what he was talking about.  That demon had probably said something to him.  Gogandantess seemed like the type who liked to stir the pot for his own amusement.  I took a step forward and put my hand on his arm, feeling the strength underneath quiver as I pressed my fingers against him.  Our height difference had me looking up into his eyes, seeing his expression change the longer we stood there.  I wanted to know what he'd been told, but waited until he placed his hand over mine and smiled.  "Anyways, we should get out of here."  He completely dropped the conversation and began to pull me towards the castle.

I dug my feet into the ground and pulled against him.  I wasn't ready to move, yet.  My curiosity was insisting that I find out if it really was Gogandantess that he'd mentioned before.  "When you said 'he', did you mean Gogandantess?" I asked, never letting my gaze waver as I stared at his back.  "Magoichi, you've gotta tell me what's going on."  If that demon had said I was going to die, then he was lying.  How the hell would he know something like that?  Even so, there was something about the way that Magoichi said it that had me worried.  Why would that demon tell him something like that?  How the hell was I supposed to fight with thoughts of death looming over my head?  Was that his plan?  To distract us?

Magoichi's back stiffened when I spoke but he didn't loosen his grip on my wrist.  "You're smart, you can figure it out," he said, looking over his shoulder at me.  "I really don't want to have to explain the details or the reasons behind our escape.  All you need to know is that we've got to get into Gifu castle to stop Nobunaga, and we have to do it together."

There was something that I saw in his eyes that made my stomach twist into knots.  He didn't have to come to my rescue every time I was in trouble, but it seemed as if he'd decided that I was weak and helpless.  He could have let me escape on my own.  His need to fight for my honour made my blood boil as I pulled my arm away from him.  My fists were trembling by my sides as I steadied my breathing to calm down.  He really thought that I couldn't have gotten away from Gogandantess on my own.  He thought I was weak!  It took all of my strength to keep from yelling at him for assuming that I needed his help. 

What was happening to me?  I was stronger than that!  I'd never let myself get mad over something so small before.  Why did I care so much about what he did, or if he thought I was weak?  I knew I could take care of myself and there were more important things to think about; like planning my mission to get close to Nobunaga.  I'd tried to think of a path into Gifu castle, but it was so hard!  Whenever I tried to concentrate on my mission my mind would wander back to Magoichi.  We made a good team, even though he might not have thought so.  I hated being saved just because of how helpless it made me feel.  I mean I know that I'm one of the top ninjas from my village, but whenever I ran into Magoichi it seemed as if I always needed his help in one way or another.  I vowed to return the favour if I ever thought he needed my help… yeah, like that was going to happen.  I blinked as I thought of that, a terrible idea forming in my mind.  Had Magoichi had a rematch with Gogandantess?  I mean… they wouldn't do something else… right?  My mouth was dry when I opened it to ask.  I was afraid to hear my question, let alone what the answer was.  I just took a deep breath and said the words.  I had to know the truth.  "What... happened with you and Gogandantess?"

He'd told me to figure it out and I had some ideas, but I wanted to know.  I had to hear it from him.  I'd never thought he'd do something like what… oh, I prayed that it wasn't what I was thinking.

I could see him taking a deep breath, his shoulders sagging as he forced the words past his lips,  "I took your place."  The corner of his mouth turned up into a wry smirk as he said it, as if to lighten the weight of his words.  He'd offered himself to that demon so that I would be spared the pain?  How could he smile while telling me about it?  "He would have killed you," he continued, that calm voice driving me crazy and embedding the guilt deeper into my conscience.  "I couldn't let him do it so just… don't worry about it…"

"Don't worry?!  How can you say that?"  I yelled.  "I could have handled it!"  He'd put himself in my position for what?  I wasn't some child!

"You would have died, Kotaro," he said sadly.  I took a step back from him, burying my face in my hand to keep myself from screaming.  He sounded so sure of himself! 

"So…" I was shaking, my anger rising higher than before.  "Why didn't you just let me die then?"  If I died then I died.  I knew it wouldn't matter since there was nobody in my village who really cared if I lived.  Really cared.  They only worried about Nobunaga.  "There are more important things happening than saving me, you know," I bit out.  "Aren't you here to kill Nobunaga?"  It wasn't his place to throw away his life and dignity just for me.  Who did he think he was?  I turned away from him, my pride overwhelming the feelings I'd had for him.

"Aren't you here to kill him too?"  My feet stopped the moment I heard him.  He was right.  I had a mission and I was letting myself get distracted from it, again.  I couldn't understand why his opinion mattered so much to me.  In the end, neither of us mattered, especially if we failed and the demons won.  I bowed my head as he approached and put his strong hands on either of my shoulders.  "Forget what I did, alright?  You can't stop Nobunaga if you're dead."  His words were comforting but didn't help to make me feel any less stupid.

"I know that," I bit out, trying to keep the tears from falling from my eyes.  Magoichi had taken my place with Gogandantess.  A small part of me was grateful.  If Magoichi hadn't stopped him, then… I didn't want to think about what would have happened.  I knew I wouldn't have survived the rape, even though I had claimed that I would have.  Even knowing this, there was another part of me that was angry that I'd needed saving at all.  I shouldn't have let myself get into that position in the first place, and it was because of me that it would be even harder to get to Nobunaga.  I had to kill him; he'd destroyed my village.  I'd never wanted to be the chief of the Fuma clan, but it wasn't something that I could turn away from either.  Not with the blood of so many of my friends still fresh on the ground from the massacre by Nobunaga's troops.  "He attacked my village…" I whispered, leaning back against Magoichi's chest.

"I know," he breathed in my ear.  "He's planning to attack mine as well."  I closed my eyes.  It was all beginning to make sense.  We were there for the same reasons.  We could find Jubei… and succeed together.

"Then why aren't we stopping him?"  I asked, anxious to get going.  I'd do whatever I could to help him save his village.  I couldn't do enough to repay him for saving me from Gogandantess.  I could sense that he was keeping many of the details to himself but I didn't want to know any more than I did.  I'd already experienced enough with that demon to know what he was capable of.  The strong arms around me helped to replace the sickening memory of that creature's body pressed against mine.  My desire to destroy Nobunaga was renewed.  I knew I wouldn't be the one to strike the final blow, but if I could help Jubei do that, then it would avenge my village.  "We don't have much time."

"Kotaro," he said, releasing his hold on me, "I'm sorry."  I turned to see what he meant, looking up into those eyes that were so close to mine.  I'd never heard him apologize for anything before.  "You're a strong warrior.  I shouldn't have said any different."  Why would he say that?  He was always saving me!  Why did he have to bring that up again?

"But…" I started, "you're always-"

"I can't do this without you, Kotaro," he cut me off.  "I helped because it was necessary, but I don't think less of you for it, if that's what was bothering you.  Everyone needs help, and I need yours to defeat the demons.  Please?"  His brown eyes held mine, showing me the sincerity there.

"Alright."  I breathed deeply.  I was acutely aware of my body still pressed against his and I found myself leaning up to kiss him.  I stopped, catching myself before I did; I wouldn't let myself be distracted again.  Not while time was short.  He knew that I liked him, and if what we'd had in Gogandantess' chambers was any indication then I knew that he liked me too.  Well, enough to do something like that.  There would be plenty of time for kisses and more after our missions.

I began to pull away from him but he leaned forward, closing the distance between us in one quick movement, placing his lips against mine.  Our mouths locked for a quick kiss before it was over and he was pulling away from me.  "Let's go."


	11. Chapter 11

The airship had crashed to the ground, bringing down many towers with it and we had a difficult time making our way through the rubble.  I knew the layout to Gifu castle from all the information I’d managed to collect, but most of the entrance was destroyed and we were blindly looking for another way in.  Time was running out as we climbed over the large blocks of stone that lay piled around the castle grounds.  “Maybe we should look for a different way,” I called out once I saw that the main door was completely caved in.  “I think we can go around the side!  Magoichi?”  I’d lost sight of him after we’d parted to try and find a way through the courtyard.  I knew he could take care of himself, but a lump of worry built in my stomach when he didn’t respond.  “Magoichi?”  I climbed over the stones, running around several fires that were still burning from the explosions.  I’d seen him walking in that direction, but now I was wishing that I’d been paying more attention.

“Kotaro!” I heard him calling me.  “Come over here!”  His voice was urgent and I followed it until I found him crouched down by a section of the hull. 

I ran up to him, ready to draw my weapons.  “What?”  I stopped in my tracks when I got closer.  He was holding that woman in his arms.  Oyu.  “What’s she doing here?” I asked, not hiding my distrust.

“Kotaro, she’s hurt.  Get the medicine and bandages!”  My instincts told me to fight his decision, but I knew better and dug through my pack to grab my emergency herbs.  I had to admit as I slipped the leaf past her lips; she didn’t look like too much of a threat.  Maybe it was just because she was unconscious.  It seemed that all people looked that way when they were asleep.

The medicine had an almost immediate effect and I could sense her energy changing as the minutes past.  We didn’t have time for this.  “Magoichi, we-“

“Hold on,” he said, lifting her into his arms.  “First we need to find a better place to do this.  It’s not safe here.”

I nodded, rolling my eyes when his back was turned.  “There should be a way in around the side of the castle.  I remember seeing it on a map of this place.”  I led them down the path that I’d mentioned, feeling a pang of jealousy as I watched him out of the corner of my eye carrying her limp body.

+++

I was grateful for my memory as I slid the door aside that led to a room that was still intact.  I’d remembered seeing several rooms listed on the map that were set apart from the main hallways and chambers.  I was happy that I’d remembered them because they would have been difficult to find on our own.  “We’ll be safe here,” I said, stepping aside to let Magoichi through with Oyu.  I walked further inside and carefully scanned for any demons that might have been waiting for us.  The air, however, was stale and I could tell that nobody had been to this section of the castle for years.

I opened a second door in the wall, revealing a smaller room off to the side.  “Oyu can rest in here while we wait,” I said.  It would be easier to defend the main room if she wasn’t underfoot when the demons appeared.  He nodded and placed her on the floor, taking off his vest and bundling it under her head.  I let my eyes drift over his bare chest before pulling them away.  I’d take the time to stare at him later.  I watched him bind her wounds, taking care to tie the bandages off tightly.  Once he’d done what he could he reached into his pack to pull out a healing potion and poured it into her mouth.  I grit my teeth to keep from saying anything.  He could have used that later on!  She would have been fine if we’d left her there, but he had to waste a healing potion on her.  It was a good one too.  I just knew that we’d miss that in the next few hours.

“Great, so how long do you want to wait?” I asked, sitting on the floor in the centre of our room once he’d gently slid the door closed behind him.  I knew he wouldn’t leave her behind after we’d carried her all the way there.

“Until she wakes.  It shouldn’t be too long.”  He sat down next to me. 

“But we’ve got to go!”  We didn’t have time to sit around and wait for some woman to wake up!

“Don’t worry,” he said, pulling out his pipe and filling it with tobacco.  “I doubt that it’s a straight path to Nobunaga.  There will probably be a few barriers left to break through before the end.”

“How do you… know that?”  I was surprised that he knew so much about what Jubei was doing.

“Ah…” he trailed off as he lit his pipe.  “Just seems logical to me, really.”  He inhaled a long haul of smoke.

“Really?  Are you sure it’s not something else that that demon told you?”  I asked as lightly as I could.  This was picking at my curiosity and I didn’t want to make him remember anything too painful.

“No,” he said flatly, giving me a cold stare.  “He said he saw Nobunaga defeated by Jubei.  We have to go at our own pace.  Otherwise…” he mumbled, seeming to have forgotten the pipe in his hand and staring into space instead.

“What?”  I couldn’t have heard him right.

His eyes snapped up to see mine.  “Things just might not happen the way they should.  We can’t change the way things were meant to happen…”

“Magoichi,” I asked, worried.  “You’re not making any sense.”

“Neither did he,” he said, seeming to come back to reality.  “I tried asking him, but we were too busy with other things for me to ask, alright?”

I snapped my mouth shut at the look he gave me.  I wasn’t going to ask any more if it involved… that.  “Well,” I said, trying to think of something else to say.  “So what about Oyu?” I asked.  “Why did you save her?  I don’t trust her at all!”

“So I noticed,” he chuckled, passing me the pipe.

I took it, my hands more sure this time than the last.  “She can’t be trusted,” I said, putting the end to my lips and sucking a bit of the smoke into my mouth.  I inhaled, feeling my lungs protest but grinned to myself when I didn’t cough.  The tobacco didn’t taste as sweet as it smelled, but it was still something that I could see myself doing with Magoichi more often.  When I finally released my breath, I let the smoke out through my nose and winced at the sting it left in my sinuses.  “‘Oyu isn’t even her real name.  She’s going to betray us!”

I couldn’t understand why he didn’t see what I saw.  How could I trust someone like that?  She’d abandon us the moment we needed her help.  Women were weak.  He didn’t seem to care about what I’d said, or if he did, he didn’t think much of it.  “Her real name is ‘Oiichi’,” he said with a smirk, taking the pipe back from me.

Oiichi… that name sounded so familiar.  It was-!  “Nobunaga’s sister?  Why would you save her?”  How could he think that it was perfectly normal to trust the enemy’s family?

“Forget it, Kotaro,” he mumbled as he put the pipe between his lips again.  “She’s here to stop him too, just like we are.”

“Or maybe she’s here to spy on Jubei!  Did you ever think of that?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not-“

I had to cut him off.  “It is!  Women are evil.  She’s the only one here who could betray us.”

“Oh, I think you’re being too hard on her.  I’ve known some women who were actually very nice.”  He grinned.  Damn I hated it.

“I’m serious about this!”  Why wouldn’t he listen to me?  “Quit pretending this is nothing!”

“I’m serious too, Kotaro!  The only difference is that I’m not ready to kill her just because she’s related to Nobunaga!”  He angrily tapped his pipe out on the floor.  My eyes followed the cinder as it rolled along the floor to smolder near my feet.

“I’m not saying we should kill her,” I said, trying to think of how to put my feelings into words.  When did I switch to the defensive?  “I just don’t trust her.”

“Kind of like how you didn’t trust me at first?”  He was looking at me intently.  “Did you want to kill me too?”

I thought I saw his eye twitch, as if he was trying to keep a straight face, but I wasn’t sure.  “No!  You were different!” I blurted out.  I sucked at skilled conversation.  It wasn’t that I couldn’t hold a conversation but that ninja’s are taught stealth and we don’t usually talk to our targets before we kill them.  In the art of skilled conversation I was poorly armed before Magoichi.  “I-I just wanted to-“

“Spy on me for a little bit?”  His tone was calm, bordering on warning.

“N-no!  You just seemed interesting and I was bored and-“

“You were bored?”  I felt the accusation in his tone.  The unspoken command that told me to go on, and I couldn’t stop myself from obeying.

For a second it seemed as if we were strangers again, sitting in the upper level of the bar in Imasho.  I hadn’t been able to read him at all then and it suddenly seemed as if what had happened between us since then hadn’t been real.  He’d become so cold all of the sudden.  “Well,” I started, keeping my gaze fixed with his.  “I’d already finished gathering all the information that I could on Nobunaga’s demons.  The lower level ones aren’t too bright, so it was almost too easy to follow them around and find out what I needed to know.  After all that I was hiding out in the bar and waiting for something to happen.”

“So I was just a distraction until the real mission started?”  He looked upset.

“At first, yes,” I said, ”but that changed after I’d followed you around for a bit,” I quickly added. 

I’d been so sure of myself before I’d met him.  After that?  I saw that in the end my life meant nothing.  I should have seen it earlier.  Ninja’s lived in the shadows.  We were invisible.  I could never be remembered as anybody who did anything, even if I stopped the demons from winning by myself.

“So when did you decide that I was someone to trust?”

“After you saved me,” I said without pause.  He’d gone out of his way to help me when he could have left me to die.  He smiled and I just wanted to wipe it off his face.  “I didn’t really have a choice but to trust you, you know.  I couldn’t move!”

He nodded and I saw him relax.  I leaned back on my hands, watching him pack his pipe with tobacco again.  “So, when did you decide to trust me?” I asked, suddenly curious to know the answer.

His eyebrow rose a fraction, his fingers never stopping in their task.  “It wasn’t really a decision,” he said, lighting the pipe.  “I always knew you were trustworthy.  You’re very open…” he inhaled the smoke, but I didn’t fail to notice that he never looked at me.

The pause between us would have been longer, but I felt the air between us thicken with tension and he opened his mouth to speak.  “Why do you distrust women, Kotaro?”

‘Because they can’t be trusted!’  Is what I wanted to yell at him, but I stopped myself the moment I drew the breath to say it.  He wanted to know the real answer.  I looked away, turning my head to rest my chin on my shoulder.  “They’ve never given me a reason to trust.”  I said, failing at keeping the bitterness from my words.  I couldn’t help it.  “S-she abandoned me.”

I was proud that I kept the tightness out of my throat as I said it.  I hated feeling sad, and telling him about it was ruining my mood.  The air between us filled with smoke as he exhaled, and I breathed in the scent.  “Who did?  Your wife?  Girlfriend?”

“My mother!”  I snapped, “She ran away from the village when I was born.  She left me to be passed around between the men and women in the village to raise me.”  I shivered.  It had only been one of the men who’d had wandering hands, but every time he’d touched me I’d cursed my mother for leaving me with him.  “The only woman that I should have been able to trust let me down.  They’re more deceitful than men.  At least on a battlefield your enemy will let you know who he is!”  I pulled my knees against my chest, wrapping my arms around them.  “You wouldn’t understand…”

“I never knew my mother,” he cut me off.  “She died when I was very young.  But even though I grew up without her, I never once thought that-“

“But she died!”  I blurted out, cutting him off.  “My mother left me!  Mine had a choice and she decided that she didn’t want me!  What do you think is worse?”  I wiped at my eyes, angrily forcing the tears away.  “At least you can tell yourself that she would have wanted you!  I wish mine had died!  At least that way I could pretend!”

The moment the words left my mouth I knew I regretted saying it, but a gasp from the other side of the room stopped any apology I might have had.

Oyu was awake.

“Kotaro…”

“You can’t fool me,” I told her.  “I know that you’re Nobunaga’s sister.  You’re just here to help him out!”

“That’s not true!”  She took a step towards me but I was on my feet and reaching for my blade.  I didn’t care what Magoichi said.  We couldn’t trust her!

“Don’t,” he said, putting his hand on my arm, stopping me from pulling out my kunai.  “First we should-“

“Kotaro,” she cut him off and took a few steps towards me, still clutching at her bandaged ribs.  “It’s not what you think.  I can explain.”

“Fine,” I said, folding my arms over my chest.  “I’m listening.”  I was sure to keep my hand on my weapon, ready to pull it free if she made a move.  She was probably trying to get my guard down so she could attack.

“I-I’m here to stop my brother.”  She didn’t look away from me and I had to give her points for lying with such a straight face.  “He may be my brother, but I married into the Asai clan… and Nobunaga intends to destroy it!  I had to stop him.”

What a convenient story.  “You could have been sent to spy on the Asai clan,” I told her, never looking away from her for a minute.  “I still think you’re helping your brother.”

“But that’s the last thing I would do.  I-I’d kill him if it meant saving my daughters!”

This was new.  “What?”  Magoichi and I asked at the same time.  It seemed he was just as surprised as I was.

“After I was married, I found out that my husband had three daughters from his first wife.”  I watched her carefully, trying to pick up on anything that would prove that she was lying.  I hated to admit it, but her hurt looked pretty real.  “At first I felt betrayed that he didn’t tell me… but now I realize that they’re looking up to me and that I have to protect them.  I came to kill my brother and keep them safe.”

“Why the hell do you care about them?”  I had to ask.  “They’re not even your children.”

I’d never forget the look she gave me.  It was the kind of look that you would remember years later and cringe when you saw it again.  It made me feel like an idiot for not knowing the answer.  “Because I’m their mother.”  Her tone was shocked, as if I’d asked the most heartless question in the world.  “Even if we’re not related by blood, I won’t leave them.”

I swear all I wanted to do was cut her down right there.  I didn’t even know what it was that made me so mad.  Here she was trying to save her daughters that weren’t even hers, and just the thought of it made my blood boil. 

I reached for my blade again.  My own mother had left me behind the first chance she got, and here Oyu was, ready to die for her children.  It just wasn’t fair!

I sensed Magoichi moving, putting his hands out to stop me, but I moved out of the way.  Everything was happening in slow motion.  I was a great ninja; I just needed a bit of drive.  My feet echoed in my ears as I dashed towards Oyu, my blade singing as I pulled it free of its sheath, ready to bathe in blood.  Her blood.  She had the nerve to lie so straight-faced to me, and if she was telling the truth it was all the more reason for me to kill her. 

I slammed into her, knocking her to the ground.  She was lying.  She had to be.  I knelt over her, looking closely at her.  No woman would fight for children that weren’t hers.  If my mother couldn’t bother to care, how could she?  I could feel my blood was rushing through my veins, giving me strength to do what I had to.  “I can’t let you betray us!”  I yelled, raising my kunai above her.  “I know you’re lying,” I tightened my grip, “and if you’re not?”  My blade struck down towards her throat, “Then your daughters will never know-!”  The blade bit into the floorboard beside her head.  It dug halfway into the wood before I could stop it.  Her eyes were wide with shock and I stared back into them with the same horror she must have felt.

My kunai was firmly planted in the floor and I numbly pulled my hand away from it.  My fingers fought to keep their grip around the handle as I stared blankly at her.  I’d almost killed her.  A shaky breath filled the room and it took me a second to realize that it had come from me.  I covered my mouth with my hand, trembling as I saw what I’d almost done.

“Kotaro.”  I’d almost killed her.  I stood up from her and fell back onto the floor, my eyes still locked with hers.  “Kotaro.”  I’d… almost… killed her…  “Kotaro…”

“I almost killed her!”  I yelled, burying my face in my hands.  I felt Magoichi kneeling beside me and he put his arms around me as I felt the scream inside of me clawing its way out.  Why did it hurt so much?

“Kotaro, it’s okay…” My hands were clawing at his back, trying to hold him tighter.  I listened to his calming tone before realizing what he was saying.

“How can you say that?”  I asked, my throat tightening as I forced the words past.  “She has… I almost…” I turned my head to look at Oyu.  She was propping herself up from where I’d knocked her down and I immediately saw the pained look on her face.

Why would I just notice this now?

Why out of all the times that I’d seen her and known she was the enemy would I not notice or care if she was in pain?  “Oyu…” I instinctively reached for my pack when she winced again, my fingers numbly worming their way inside until I felt them run across a packet of medicine.  Before I’d cursed Magoichi for healing her, and now… was she really an enemy?

I pushed myself up from Magoichi and crawled over Oyu.  “Kotaro?”  She was confused.  I gave her the medicine.

I watched her slip it past her lips and I felt him kneeling behind me.  “What made you change your mind?” he asked, his hand on my shoulder.

“I… I didn’t…” I whispered, “but if I killed her and she was telling the truth, then…” I shuddered, “Her daughters would never have known what happened to her.”  I wiped at the tears that burned in the corners of my eyes.  “If she’s telling the truth, then I don’t want them to think that she abandoned them.  Especially if she’s here to kill her brother for them…” I inhaled a sharp breath.  “But, if you’re lying,” I felt the anger in me fighting for dominance.  She looked at me questioningly but I couldn’t finish my words so I let the unspoken promise hang in the air between us. 

I hoped she was telling the truth. 


	12. Chapter 12

I watched Oyu closely after my outburst.  I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I just watched Magoichi take care of her instead.  As much as I wanted to kill her, I didn't want her daughters to go through the same thing that I had, especially if she had come this far for them.  I hoped that she was telling the truth.  If she had been lying then I would be the first person to kill her for it.  I closed my eyes, listening to their voices mumble in conversation that I wasn't interested in.  We were so close to Nobunaga, I could feel it.

I started awake when I felt something poking me in the side.  "The hell…?"  I cracked an eye open and looked up into those brown eyes.

"Ready to go, sleeping beauty?"  Magoichi leaned over me, bringing our faces close enough for me to smell the tobacco on his breath.  I wanted to reach up and grab him by his coat, just to pull him down to kiss me.  Instead I rolled over and grunted a bit, hoping he'd let me sleep for a bit longer.  The floor was surprisingly comfortable.

"Hey, you.  This is definitely no time to catch up on missing sleep," I felt him nudge me with his boot.  "Come on, kid!"

I grumbled something at him and crawled to my hands and knees; slowly getting to my feet.  "How do you know that we should go now and not in ten more minutes?"  Right then, I would have traded anything for ten minutes of extra sleep.

The tone of his voice told me that I was out of luck.  "I was scouting around the castle and the dark barrier that was blocking off the main tower just disappeared.  We've got to move."  His feet scraped across the floor as he walked away from me, Oyu's smaller steps echoing behind him.

I grit my teeth at their sound and quickly gathered my things.  I realized, as I tightened my wrist guards, that her presence was making me uneasy.  Just because I let her live didn't mean that I would let her distract me.  That, of course, was Magoichi's job.  I sighed, wishing somehow that I weren't so weak around him.  Our meeting after escaping from Gogandantess kept replaying in my mind, and I really wanted to see what would happen between us after we killed Nobunaga.  Part of me was desperate to feel his lips on me again, but now was not the time.  The weight of my vest as I tightened the final straps helped bring me back to reality.  It was that pressure that I focused on as I hurried to catch up.  I had to keep my focus, and hope that letting her live wouldn't turn out to be a mistake. 

+++

Magoichi was already out of sight by the time I slid the door open and climbed into the corridor.  Oyu was standing there, waiting.  "Kotaro," she started, taking a light step towards me.  I watched her movements carefully, a small piece of me happy that she wasn't attacking.  "Magoichi said he'd meet us up at the bridge.  He already cleared away most of the demons that got in his way."

"Great," I mumbled, continuing along the hallway.  I moved to give her space to walk beside me, but I didn't say anything more.  If we could spend our time together in silence, then I would be happy. 

"He seemed very concerned for your safety," she said lightly. 

It seemed she didn't want me to be happy. 

I nodded, keeping my mouth shut and instead looking around for any demons that decided to show up late.  "You two must care for each other very much."

The twitch in my eye started when she said it.  "Why do you say that?" I asked, keeping a smile on my face and looking at her for a second.

"There is something about the way he talks to you," she kept on, not noticing how I didn't want her to say it.  I really didn't want to talk to her about this.  "There is just… like a feeling of caring that he has for you that I don't see when he talks to anyone else."

Really?  I didn't hear anything like that when I talked to him.  Was she trying to get on my good side?  Just because I was walking with her didn't mean that I wanted to talk about how great I thought Magoichi was!  I had to keep my focus.  Nobunaga came first.

"It's obvious you like him," she said, and I couldn't stop my head from spinning around to gape at her; I wasn't that obvious… was I?  "You get this look on your face when you're talking to him, or thinking about him… I, um, you're thinking about him now, aren't you?" she covered her mouth to hide her giggle.

I hunched my shoulders, "Whatever," I mumbled, sharply looking away from her.  She was getting too friendly.  "So, did you have any plan to kill your brother?"  I figured the change of topic would be nice.  At the very least I could test her to see if she was lying again.  I'd held back from killing her for the sake of her daughters, but that was the only thing that had stopped me.  Right then I could have used a reason to change my mind.

"Oh, I hadn't really thought about that," she sighed, sounding like I'd just asked her what colour kimono she wanted to wear instead of how she planned to kill her brother.  "I thought I could talk to him, maybe get him to lower his guard so I could do it quickly.  I didn't really have a plan for how… exactly."

"Uh-huh," I grumbled, feeling a headache starting.  "So you don't know any of his weaknesses or how the demons increased his power?"  It was worth a shot to ask, and I rubbed at my temple in anticipation of her answer.  She really was telling the truth.  I was convinced of it now, and I was beginning to wish it wasn't true.

"Not really.  I just felt responsible for it, somehow.  I didn't want my family destroyed, so I thought I stood as good a chance as anybody.  I managed to buy this armour on my way over…"

I led the way to the end of the passage, instinct telling me where to go as I listened to Oyu talk.  I could almost hear Magoichi laughing at me then, pointing out how I had first thought she was a spy.  It seemed ridiculous now, since she was looking more and more like a regular woman to me… I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  Instead, I kicked at the door that blocked our way.

It burst open and a blast of hot air hit my face, enveloping my entire body in a burning heat.  It felt like I was walking out into hell.  I didn't let my guard down for a second as I stepped out onto the roof of Gifu castle.  The clouds were an angry shade of purple and the air felt like it was burning straight from the demon's realm, hot and smoky.  It was a preview of what would happen if we failed and I couldn't help trailing my eyes to Oyu to see her reaction to her brother's plan.  She was clutching at her chest, the tears that fell down her cheeks drying before they could fall from her face.

"Oyu-" It took a few seconds for me to catch my breath.  I coughed a few times, my eyes watering with the strain.  The air was too dry.

"My brother…" she was having trouble talking as well, only it might have been something more than the air that was making it difficult.  "This is what he wants?  If he wins…"

"We're going to stop him," I said, cutting her off before she finished.  We both knew that we couldn't fail.

My senses were alert as we walked forward, feeling for the slightest shift in the air that would signal a demon attack. 

We'd come out at the topmost tower of the castle, which had little more than a narrow walkway framed by puny railings that were supposed to guard us from falling over the side.  Unfortunately the wood was so old and dried out that they would probably break if you looked at it too hard, let alone touch it.  Further down the walkway I could see a bridge with a large archway towering before it, and beyond that, the second tower of Gifu castle.

This was it. 

I pushed my legs to keep moving forward, even though the one shred of fear inside of me was begging for me to turn back.  The second tower was so thick with demonic energy I had trouble thinking about what my next move would be.  Everything was so hazy.  I think my legs began to lose feeling, but I couldn't focus.  A dark shape in the sky caught my eye and I focused all my attention on it, trying to ignore the evil aura that was trying to overtake me.

I watched it float through the air, zooming towards me and then moving away.  It took me a second to realize it was a bird, and with that realization I could see it clearly as it flew further down the bridge.  It landed on the outstretched arm of a man who stood just beyond the door of the tower.  I wouldn't let myself stop short of defeating Nobunaga; not while this man could stand there without any fear.

I looked behind me at Oyu; she was frozen in place.  For a second I thought about leaving her there, but then thought better of it.  I'd hate to be left behind, and she would be in more danger on the defenseless bridge than inside the tower.  I reached back to grab her arm and pull her along with me.

The closer I got, the easier I could see through the aura.  It wasn't until I was standing in front of the man that I realized that it was Magoichi.

"It's about time you showed up, kid," he said with that amused tone that irritated and thrilled me at the same time.

"You could have woken me earlier, jerk," I sighed, noticing the homing pigeon that was perched in his hand.  "What's that?"

"Just keeping in contact with some friends," he shrugged, lifting his hand up so that the bird could fly away.  "So," he looked between me and Oyu, "are you two ready?"

+++

The door wouldn't open when we tried it, but that didn't mean that Magoichi had to use gunpowder to persuade it.

"He'll know we're here now!"  I yelled at him as he led the way through the opening he'd made in the brick.

"I think he did before," he grinned at me.  I felt my heart skip a beat.

I was losing my focus again.  I couldn't get distracted.  I quickly looked at Oyu, seeing how she clutched at the hilt of her sword with shaking hands.  Was the demon's aura still affecting her?

"Hey, girl!  You up for this?"  It seemed Magoichi was thinking the same thing.

"I-I'll be fine," she said with the kind of fake confidence I'd had on my first mission.  "Just worry about finding a way to get to him…"

I nodded at her and looked around the circular room, trying to see anything that would lead us up to the next level.  There was a strange structure in the centre, with a tube leading upwards and into the ceiling above us.  Magoichi went directly to it; probably attracted to all the mechanical parts that were visible.

That left the rest of the room to me; which was nothing impressive, by demon standards.  The walls had a living quality to them, sending shivers up my spine when I touched the alien surface.  There were several windows further up the walls, but it would only lead outside and while I knew that climbing the tower on the outside would be all too easy for me, I couldn't take Oyu or Magoichi with me.  I had to find another way.

"Kotaro!"  Oyu called out to me and I rushed over to her, meeting Magoichi as we looked up to where she was pointing.  "There's a ladder up there that leads into the next level," she said, her fear having been replaced with confidence at her discovery.  "But it's too high to reach!"

"Why would they build a ladder so far off the ground?"  I wondered out loud.  "Maybe it's a trap!"

Magoichi snorted, "You think everything is a trap, Kotaro.  It's just a ladder."

I glared at him and folded my arms over my chest.  "Well, it looks too easy.  My ninja training says that there's got to be another way."

"Well then, Mr. Ninja, while we're looking for the key to bring the ladder down to us, why don't you see if you can find a better way?"  His back was already turned to me as he looked around for a device, or whatever it was he thought would bring the rungs any closer to him.

I looked at Oyu; she seemed to still be excited that she'd found something of use.  She wouldn't admit that there was another way, which meant that it was up to me.  "Fine, I'll meet you guys up there, then."

I think Magoichi said something about us needing to stick together, but I was already climbing the wall up to the windows I'd seen earlier.  I couldn't ignore the feeling of his eyes on me while I crawled through the small opening.  Their weight was unmistakable, and while I would have loved to look back to see what kind of expression he had on his face, I was too determined to show him that my way was better.  He was still yelling for me to come back even after I'd begun climbing the tower wall from the outside.  I wouldn't turn back.  This was my turn to save the day and I wouldn't let him talk me out of it.  Besides, I'm a skilled ninja; what could go wrong?


	13. Chapter 13

The demonic aura that surrounded the second tower of Gifu castle grew stronger the higher I climbed.  I didn't realize how tiring it was until I tried pulling myself through a window a few levels up.  I collapsed onto the ground, only taking a second to catch my breath before I quickly scanned the circular room for signs of enemies.  Unfortunately it was too dark to see the other side of the room and I had to let my eyes adjust to the darkness before carefully walking towards the centre of the room.  I stopped suddenly when I noticed a large hole by my feet, and I had to squint to see that it was actually a large tube that led straight down.  The walls were shining with some weird light and I realized that they were made up of living tissue that pulsed with life.  I slowly backed away, deciding that I didn't need to know what was at the bottom of the tube.  I wanted to rest for a moment more since I was feeling unusually tired after the climb up there, but a deep, rumbling laughter sent any thoughts of rest from my mind.

"Hehehe, what do we have here?  Just another puny human!"  The walls all around me started glowing brighter with demon energy and I spun around, weapons drawn.  A large, blue demon was towering over me, holding a massive, spiked war hammer above his head.  My eyes took in his incredible frame, which looked relatively human except for its odd colouring.  Looking further down, however, was something completely different.  I couldn't stop staring at his lower half; it looked like... well, I don't know what it was.  At the base of his torso sprang four bony legs, all jutting out in opposite directions like a spider, and they each had sharp, pointed hooves.  The oddest thing, though, was an eye that sat at the juncture of his legs.  It was like nothing I’d ever seen before and I was frozen in place, locked in its gaze as it glared at me with its own evil intent.  I lost all sense of everything around me until my instinct kicked in and I leapt out of the way as the massive war hammer went sailing past my head and smashed into the floor behind me.

The demon spun around and rushed towards me, his size belying his speed and I barely had time to roll out of the way again before his pointed hooves drove into the ground by my hand.  "What the hell are you?"  I screamed, putting some distance between us and flicking a couple shuriken at him.  They zinged through the air only to be blocked by his muscular forearm.  This wasn't good.

"I am your future master, boy," he said, swinging his weapon above his head.  "The future master of all humans.  Unfortunately for you, you won't live long enough to be a slave."

"You sure think ahead of yourself," I said, trying to buy some time and figure out what to do next.  "Kind of reminds me of Gogandantess, only you don't kiss your weapon or tell me your name every five minutes."  There had to be a weakness I could exploit, or something I could use in the room.  I just had to find it!

"Gogandantess?!"  He bellowed, driving the spiked tip of his hammer into the ground.  "Don't compare me with him, human!"

"Why not?"  I asked.  He was turning an interesting shade of purple, and was having difficulty pulling his weapon out of the floor.  Seemed like I'd struck a nerve, and while I knew I shouldn’t, I couldn't help taunting him a bit more, "I don't blame you for hating him, you know,” I said mock-sympathy in my tone.  “I mean, you're stuck up here by yourself while he's plotting world domination with Nobunaga.  I’d be mad too!  Well, I’d also be mad if I smelled as funky as you do.  Phew!  That's another thing he has over you... I have some soap I could trade you if you like-"

"Shut up!  It's because he and I are on completely different levels!" he bellowed louder than before and I knew I'd taunted enough.  I really didn’t have soap to trade anyways, and I’d hate to tell him that I’d lied about it.  His blade looked like it was close to coming free too and I still didn't have any idea of how to defeat him. 

"I serve our master without hesitation,” he roared, trying to convince me with sheer volume.  “Nobody in Nobunaga's army is stronger or more devoted than I am!  Gogandantess only worries about his own pleasure with his fighting and with his slaves.  It's only because he can fight at all that Nobunaga keeps him around."  He sneered, finally ripping his hammer free and whirling around to face me.  "I don't play with my food like he does, either.  Die!"

If I wasn’t so good, then I’d be dead; he was almost as fast as I was.  I could avoid getting killed, but I didn't have enough time to come up with a counterattack before I had to dive out of the way again.  Size and speed was a bad combination for an opponent, especially when he was coming after me.

"Hehehe, I've already captured your Oni hero!  There's nothing you can do will stop me!"  He laughed, swinging at me again.  "You will die before Jubei does!" 

He tilted his massive frame back to laugh loudly and in that moment I noticed something on the other side of the room.  The room was getting brighter by the minute, and I could see the figure of a man chained to the wall across from me.  His body was slumped forward, but even though I couldn't see his face, I still recognized the familiar armour that he wore.

"Jubei!"  I took a step towards him, but stopped; the demon still stood between us and I couldn’t do anything before I killed him.  I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Jubei raise his head; at least he was still alive.

"Give up and I'll let you die quickly!" that bellowing voice laughed.  "You're out of tricks, boy!"

I glared at him.  "I've got one left," I said under my breath as I balled my hand into a fist and drove it into the ground at my feet. 

"Fuma!"

I barely registered the pain, focusing more on controlling the light around me to invoke the secret shadow techniques of my clan.  I couldn't let Jubei down, and I wouldn't let Magoichi come in to save me again.

A cloud of smoke rose around me the moment I hit the ground.  I quickly used the moment to create a shadow-double of myself, and then wrap the shadows around my body to blend in with my surroundings.  I'd always liked using that technique, since most people didn't know what to look for and were fooled by my clone.  Luckily for me, the demon’s speed was only surpassed by his incredible gullibility and he kept swinging at my clone, his war hammer passing through the intangible form while I watched from the side.  This would be too easy.

I knew the copy would only last for a few minutes, so I wasted no time rushing forward to drive my kunai into the demon’s side. 

The tip pierced the blue skin and ripped the muscle all the way to the bone.  He yelled as the dark blood began to flow down his side, his weapon swinging with more force, but still as ineffectively as before.  "What sort of trickery is this?!  Nobody cuts Ginghamphatts and lives!"

My clone wavered, the image shimmering before disappearing from view.  The moment it did he whirled around to look at me, anger blazing in those cold eyes.  It seemed that I wasn't invisible anymore, and Ginghamphatts was angrier than before.

"What's the matter? "  I ducked out of the way as he swung wildly at me.  “Looks like I found a way to cut you after all.“

"I'll make you pay for that, human!" he yelled, charging at me again.  I rolled out of the way of his weapon, busy trying to think of another Fuma technique that I could use.  I knew I was clear of his hammer, and paused to invoke another power, but I hadn’t noticed his pointed hooves shooting out for me until they’d pinned me to the ground.

"Shit!"  Luckily my vest was the only thing that was caught, pinning my body and arm to the ground as they pierced the fabric and went right into the floor.  I was trapped and completely open to attacks.  My only chance was my free hand, and my kunai that was still at my waist; timing, I knew, would be everything.

"Don't think you could ever beat a demon, boy.  Humans have always been lower on the food chain."  He leaned down to gloat in my face; his misshapen mouth grinning widely.  "I will take my time killing you; sucking the marrow from your bones and skinning you alive.  I want you to see Nobunaga's armies conquer your pathetic country before you die."

He was beginning to remind me of Gogandantess, with all his talking.  "You're forgetting one important thing," I said, pulling my blade free and gripping it tightly.

"Oh yeah?  What's that?"  He grabbed my face in his clawed hand, twisting my head at such an odd angle until I thought my neck would break.  His breath was rancid; forcing the rations that Magoichi had given me to turn in my stomach. 

I glared up at him as best I could from my position.  "You’d have to be alive to do any of it!"  I said, bringing my kunai up with lightening speed into his throat.  It took all my strength to force it past the thick muscles in his neck, but I just kept pushing the blade further and further until he let go of my face.  He was flailing his arms wildly and I had to get out of range before he hit me.

His hooves were still pinning me down so I cut the ties of my vest, tearing the fabric off of my body and sliding out of its hold.  Better to be half-naked and alive than fully clothed and dead.

I rushed to the other side of the room before turning to see how badly I'd injured him.  Ginghamphatts' blood was streaming down his chest, his hands struggling to cover the cut in his throat that continued to gush with blood.  It looked pretty serious.

"Looks like I win," I grinned, flipping my kunai in the air and catching it before sheathing it.  I turned to Jubei, "Now to get you out of there."

In the fading light the Samurai didn't look like he was injured too badly.  Thank God.  It seemed that with Ginghamphatts' death that the walls were glowing less and making it more difficult to see again.  “Kotaro…” Jubei breathed when I reached behind him to loosen the chains.

“Good to hear you’re still alive,” I laughed.  “No need to thank me.  I’ll have you out of there in a minute!”  There was only one lock that held all the chains in place, and I wouldn't be a ninja if I couldn't handle that.

“No, Kotaro…” Jubei mumbled as he sank forward into my chest.  “Behind you…”

Those words alone were enough to make my blood run cold.  “What the-?“  I spun around and quickly scanned the shadows, but couldn’t see anything.  Not even Ginghamphatts’ body.  “Where the hell did he go?”

“I couldn’t see,” Jubei hissed against my shoulder.  “The pain…”

“Aw, hell,” I reached blindly into my pack while my eyes scanned the room for that demon.  My fingers brushed against the herb I needed and I quickly pulled it out. 

“Take it,” I ordered and put it into Jubei’s mouth.  He coughed, but swallowed and I could instantly see the colour return to his skin.  “You wait here while I look for a way out.  Don’t move too much, okay?”

“Fine,” he coughed and reached for his sword.  “There should be a lever to activate the ladder to the room below.  I thought Nobunaga would be up here, but Ginghamphatts trapped me when I climbed up.”

“Alright, I’ll have a look around.  Keep an eye out for him, okay?”  I felt better with Jubei keeping watch as I looked for that lever.  I couldn't see it anywhere, so I started feeling along the side of the walls, hoping that my hand would run into it accidentally.  “Too bad the light's gone.  Now if I was a lever, where would I be?”

“Kotaro, it’s right beside the window you climbed through!”  Jubei coughed behind me.

“Good to hear you’re feeling better,”  I laughed and walked over to where I remembered climbing up.  I squinted, barely seeing the outline of a long metal rod that stuck in the wall.  “Found it!”  I called back, reaching out to pull it.

I heard some loud metal clanking noises and then the trap door swung away to let the light from below shine up.  I peeked my head through the opening, “Hey, Magoichi!  We’re up-ah!“

Something grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards, throwing me into the wall on the other side of the room.  “Jubei?!”

I looked up from where I’d landed after being thrown.  The lights were glowing brighter again, but I didn't need it to see the anger in Ginghamphatts' eyes.  “I thought I killed you, monster!”

“Nobody can kill me… I am immortal…” his voice was raspy and gurgling with the blood that was still in his throat.

“Well, it sounds like I hurt you pretty bad, though.”  I felt my grin fall as he smeared something familiar on his throat.  Was it...  a healing potion?

“Enough,” he rasped, only far less laboured.  “I changed my mind; Jubei will die first.”  He spun around to face the samurai.

“No!”  I shouted, scrambling to my feet to run after him.  I threw a few shuriken to try and slow him down, but he seemed unfazed, even as the embedded themselves deep into his body.

Jubei was standing, sword raised in defense, but I knew that he was still too weak to put up much of a fight.  I was too far away to stop Ginghamphatts from killing him.  I couldn't believe that I'd let this happen.  I had to somehow make him face me first. 

Remembering how angry he'd gotten before gave me an idea, and I bellowed at the top of my lungs, “Gogandantess would never do something so cowardly!” 

Ginghamphatts stopped and turned his head to glare at me with a raised eyebrow.  That seemed to do the trick, so I kept taunting, saying whatever I thought would make him forget Jubei and attack me.  “No wonder Nobunaga is, um, planning a feast for his greatness!  Yeah, I found an invitation to the party lying around somewhere too.  But, I’d bet you weren’t even invit-“

“Shut up, boy!”  He spun around and threw his weapon at me before charging at me full tilt.  “Die!”

Mission accomplished.

I easily dodged the war hammer as it sailed past my head, but the bulk of his frame was a bit more difficult to avoid.  I’d removed my vest to escape from him earlier and couldn’t afford to let him touch me this time.

He rushed up to me and I waited, leaping to the right at the last minute to keep from being hit.  I spun around and struck him in the side again before dodging to a safer distance.  My heart was racing as I realized that I could actually defeat him!

“Enough!” he yelled, staggering forward for a moment.  He stood still, his face contracting in pain, and I could only watch in horror as he went through the most twisted transformation I'd ever seen.  If his form wasn't freakish enough to begin with, it became more monstrous as two flaps of skin that had, until that point, hung limply from his back began to take form.  They solidified as bone filled them, pushing and stretching them out until they took on their true form; wings.

Not good.

“I’ve got a trick of my own, boy!” he laughed as they began to beat, rapidly increasing in speed to lift him into the air and away from his spider legs. 

Now I could see what his body really looked like, and it was even more disgusting than what it I’d thought before.  His torso tapered drastically past his waist, the muscle and tissues gradually lessening until the only thing left for skin to cover was the end of his spine.  He had no legs.  It was as if his lower half had been ripped away and he’d been left to heal over what was left.

I couldn’t help retching when I saw him.

“What’s the matter, human?  Don’t like the new body that Guildenstern gave me?”  He flew above my head, circling around before returning to hover in front of me.  “The legs he created for me can be useful in other ways as well…”

Without warning I was knocked to the ground by the spider-legs that were still able to move without their master.  I blocked with my arms as they scratched at me with pointed hooves, but they still tore painfully into my skin.  There wasn’t any room to move out of the way as they dug for my eyes, but I had to do something.

I still had a weapon at my side, but I’d be risking a lot to lower my guard to reach for it.  Of course, I’d be risking a lot more to just lie there and let it cut me to ribbons. 

Do or die.

I waited for a break in the attack and quickly reached to pull the long gabishi daggers from my belt.  My finger slid inside the metal loop with the ease of familiarity and I made a fist, blindly punching it upwards into the hard underside of the spider-legs.  I matched it blow for blow and prayed that I hit a vulnerable spot before it carved up one of mine.  I could hear the blood in my veins rushing past my ears, but it could have just as easily been Ginghamphatts’ laughter washing over me.  I couldn’t hear anymore, I couldn’t see.  I could only feel the pain that was coursing through my body.

The hooves continued to hit me with slicing blows.  What kind of weakness would a thing like that have?

What felt like an epiphany came over me and I blindly reached up to catch one of the hooves mid-air.  I caught a glimpse of that eye looking at me with a determination to kill me for its master, just as another hoof made a stab for my face.  It would have been content to cut me to ribbons, but I wouldn’t give it the chance.  I swung upwards with my gabishi, driving the long blade deep into the centre of the iris.

A high-pitched shriek burst from it, its legs flailing about, trying to remove the weapon that was still embedded inside it.  I’d hurt it, badly.

“Wrong move, boy!”  Ginghamphatts flew above my head, making a dive towards me as I crawled out of the way of the legs.  “You forgot all about me!”

“How could I forget about someone as disgusting as you?!”  I shouted, reaching down to my waist, only to discover too late that I’d dropped all my weapons around the room.  “Aw, hell.”

He was coming at me, closer and closer.  Ginghamphatts filled my line of vision.  My mind was blank and I couldn't think to move.

“Kotaro!”  Magoichi's voice broke through my thoughts, “Duck!”

I dropped to the floor, pressing myself against the stone as I heard a loud explosion above my head.  There was a shower of blood that poured down on me, and I looked up to see Ginghamphatts being blown across the room to crash into the spider-legs.

They collided, becoming a mess of legs and arms flailing about as they continued to roll towards the hole at the centre of the room.  Ginghamphatts rolled over the edge, nearly pulling the spider-legs down with him, but they’d dug into the floor and were trying to push him away.  I watched with sick fascination as the pointed hooves continued to rip apart his hands, desperate to save its own twisted existence at the expense of its masters. 

I felt Magoichi walk up behind me and put his arm around my shoulder, both our eyes glued to the futile struggle of the demons before Ginghamphatts finally succeeded in pulling the legs down with him.  They fell down the hole and I felt myself leaning forward to see what happened after they disappeared over the edge.

“Don’t get too close, kid,” Magoichi said into my ear, leaning over to look in the hole himself.

“You’re one to talk,” I told him, turning from the hole to look back at Jubei and Oyu.  She was helping Jubei to his feet, much to my relief.

“You okay, Jubei?”  Magoichi led the way over to the two of them, hand on his hips and gun resting against his shoulder as he looked the samurai up and down.

“I’ll be fine,” he said with a grunt and re-sheathed his sword.  “I’m going…”

He went to take a step forward but Oyu put a hand on his chest.  “Here,” she said, putting what looked like a healing packet in his hand.  “Let me help you.”

I had to roll my eyes and look away; the look she was giving him was too sappy.  Jubei made some unintelligible noise and Magoichi cleared his throat.

“Well, you two kids should get going, then.  Here," he handed something to Jubei.  "This should help you get up to see Nobunaga."

The samurai took what looked like a blue orb from him and smiled.  "Magoichi, thanks..."

They said little else to each other and I just stood by, silently watching Jubei and Oyu climb down the ladder to the lower level.

I walked back to find my weapons that I'd dropped around the room.  “How did you guys get up here?” I asked, picking up my kunai.  I listened to Magoichi walk towards me and place his lips next to my ear.

“Well,” he purred, and I couldn’t help leaning into his warm breath.  “I know this ninja who thinks he’s hot stuff.”

“Oh yeah?”  I asked, turning back to him with mock interest.

“Yeah.  He put the ladder down so Oyu and I could climb up.  He keeps following me around, saying he wants to take down Nobunaga.”

"Following you around?"

"Yeah," he continued, the grin on his face widening.  "Everywhere I turn he’s there, so I decided to let him tag along."

“Hey!” I reached out to smack him.  “For your information he happened to be going where you were going, and he can take care of himself too!”

“Oh really?  How do you know?”  Now he was just playing with me.

“We’re close personal friends,” I shot back, failing at hiding a smile at our little game.  “He tells me things.”

“What kinds of things?”

“Well, like he met a man who is completely in love with his guns.”

“Sounds like my kinda guy.”

“Yeah... mine too.”  I felt a blush creep into my cheeks the moment I said it.  When did the conversation turn to flirting?  Suddenly I couldn't think of anything witty to say.

"Of course, since he won't leave me alone he'll probably follow me back to Saiga village too,” Magoichi continued.  "This kid just can't get enough of me."

"I’m sure he has other things to do.  He probably has to get back to his own village anyways.”  This was getting stupid.  “I thought you didn't want anybody to get in your way.”

“Actually, it would be nice to have him along.  I was hoping he'd follow me so I wouldn’t have to ask him myself.”  He rubbed the back of his neck absently.  It was weird to see him so uneasy.  “Kotaro, Nobunaga’s army is still going to destroy my village, even though Jubei will have killed their leader by the time they get there.  I could really use your help.”

“Magoichi… I have to get back to my own village.  The elders there-“

He cut me off, “The elders lied to you, Kotaro.  They’ve been lying to you since you were a kid.  Do you really want to risk your life for people like that?”

“What do you mean?”  He’d suddenly become serious.  “How do you know anything about Fuma village?”

“I’m sure you could have found out on your own if you’d tried, but the elders of your village had never given you reason to doubt them.  You said your mother abandoned you when you were a baby?  Isn't that what everyone told you?”

“Yeah.”  Why the hell was he bringing that up?

“I thought it was very odd that a mother would be so heartless to their own child… so I asked a friend to look into it…”

“The hell?  It’s none of your business what they told me!  There are more important things happening than that!”  I couldn’t think straight.  My chest was starting to hurt and I didn't want him to know so much about me, not when it was something so painful.  But as my blood was boiling, my anger was overpowered by something else; curiosity.  “What did you find out?”  I realized what he'd found had to be something big if he was going to tell me about it.

“Kotaro, your mother was... killed.  She was trying to escape with you, because she didn't want you to be a ninja.  But the villagers caught her and she was executed.  I'm sorry, Kotaro, but your mother didn't abandon you!"

"How the hell did you find all that out?  The elders would never do that!"  But despite my words, there was still doubt.

"Why the hell would I make this stuff up, Kotaro?  Here,"  he reached out to grab my hand and pressed something into my palm.  "If you don't believe me, then this should convince you."

I closed my fingers around the flimsy, curled paper in my hand.  It was folded and curled like the messages I would send to my village with my homing pigeon.  A flash of the bird I'd seen on the tower bridge jogged my memory.  I didn't bother hiding the trembling in my hands as I looked at the carefully written message. 

It was made up of short, clipped notes detailing how Magoichi's contact had gone to my village and had difficulty finding someone who would talk to him.  In the end he'd managed to convince a woman named Nozomi to talk to him.

The moment I saw her name, my heart sank.  I knew her.  She'd taken me in when the other women in the village couldn't be bothered.  She'd always had a kinder smile than everyone else, and she was the only person who I'd ever felt didn't think of me as a burden.  Magoichi couldn't have known about her if his contact hadn't really gone to Fuma village.  He wasn't lying, but knowing that they'd been deceiving me all my life just made me feel worse than if he'd been lying.

I didn't want to read anymore.  I didn't want to see what she, no, what everyone had been keeping from me, but Magoichi had already told me the details and the anger in my heart was burning stronger than before.  I needed to see the rest for myself. 

The remaining characters had been written on the page in short, neat strokes; like the person writing them was giving a report on the weather instead of writing something that would affect me so completely.  Nozomi had told him only that my mother was trying to leave the village because of something the elders were planning.  The details were hazy, but they'd wanted to do something with me and she'd refused them.  After she was killed, they'd raised me as a ninja, telling me that my mother had abandoned me.

My mind was swimming.  How many times had I cursed her?  Hated her for what she'd done?  No, what I thought she'd done?  It was all too much.  I was numb, vaguely aware of Magoichi putting his arms around me, but I couldn't stop staring at the note and thinking of all the times that I'd wished her dead for leaving me.

"Shh, Kotaro," Magoichi was whispering repeatedly against the top of my head.  The repetitiveness of it calmed me a little, letting me force myself to relax against his body.  He was holding me tightly, and at that moment it was that strength that I needed.  His body was warm, compared to the cold of the room and I wove my arms around his body, pulling us closer together and burying my face in his neck.  It was easier to cry if Magoichi was holding me, and for once I didn't feel any shame in letting my tears fall.

His soothing words quieted before stopping as we stood there for a few long minutes, but he kept holding me as the silence in the room took over.  I thought about everything that had happened to me, all the things I'd been told, carefully analyzing them to weigh the truth in anything anyone had ever said to me.  There wasn't anybody I could trust from my village.  When I got back they'd continue pretending that everything was as they'd made it out to be, but now that I knew the truth I wouldn't be able to look at anybody the same way again.

"I can't go back," I breathed against Magoichi's neck, keeping my face pressed to him.  "But I don't have anywhere else to go."

"If you don't want to go back, then don't," he loosened his grip around me and took a step back to face me.  He reached up to cup my cheek in his hand and leaned down to look in my eyes, "I want you to return with me to Saiga village, Kotaro."

"Magoichi, I-" What could I say?  I couldn't go home to Fuma village, and he was offering me a place to stay.  "If I'm going to return with you, they'll come looking for me.  I don't want to cause you any more trouble."

"Don't worry about that," he grinned.

"Well, you'll be worrying when you have a few ninjas knocking on your door looking to kill you... and me."

"If you'll come with me, then I'll take care of the rest."  He smiled, and I couldn't help smiling too.  He was infectious that way, on the rare occasion that he smiled like that.  "They won't try to kill you if they think you're already dead."

"You want me to... fake my own death?"  The thought sent a shiver of excitement through my body, along with a touch of concern.  "They're not easily fooled, you know."

"Being killed by demons is probably a very messy thing, I would think," he said, looking away.  I followed his gaze to my ripped vest that was still lying on the ground.  "They'll just need some eyewitness accounts and some bloody clothes and they'll probably believe it.  You'd be surprised how easy it is to fool someone into thinking you're dead."

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," I said.  He only smiled knowingly.

"I know enough to make it believable," he hesitated before taking his hand from my face and walking over to pick up my vest.  "We've got some work to do."


	14. Chapter 14

I wasn't sure what Magoichi had planned as we followed Jubei and Oyu down the ladder.  He seemed rather grim and I figured I'd find out soon enough what we would need to do to convince my clan that I was dead.  We found Oyu when we got to the lower room, and I didn't miss the tears that were streaking down her face.

"Oyu, what happened?"  I was a step ahead of Magoichi in getting to her to see if she was alright.

"Jubei... he..." she wiped at her eyes, trying to stop them from falling.

"Went on alone?"  Magoichi finished for her.  "Well, he is probably the only one here who could take on Nobunaga by himself."

"I know," she sniffled.  "I just wanted to help..."

Magoichi shot me a look, meaning for me to take over.  I guess he wasn't too comfortable with situations like that.  As if I was!

"Um, don't cry, Oyu.  We all tried our best to help, and we succeeded, if he got to Nobunaga before anything... bad happened."  I was terrible at this, but it seemed to cheer her up, so I continued.  "Jubei will survive this.  You'll see!"

She braved a smile and I shot one back at her.  She was kind of cute, and I couldn't help trying to cheer her up.

"Well, now that we've done our job," Magoichi cut in, "I think we should start heading home.  I don't know about you, Oyu, but my village is still in danger."

I kept talking while we made our way through Gifu castle in a weird attempt to cheer Oyu up.  I was still on the lookout for any demon attacks, but I guess they had all gone because I couldn't sense anything.  The air in the corridors was almost clear, with only the stale, old aura of the demons who had gone.  I could, however, sense something else.  Something powerful.  It had started off fairly faint, but continued to grow stronger with increased speed.  Finally I couldn't bear it any more.  "Do you guys feel that?"

"That aura?  Yeah," Magoichi said.  "It's been getting stronger ever since we left the tower."

"What do you think it is?  It's not demon energy, but... it's so strong."

"It's my brother," Oyu said quietly, "He sold his soul to the demons for this power."  She sighed, and I could hear the fear in that simple noise.  "I-I know Jubei will be okay... but I can't help worrying."

Up to that point there hadn't been a doubt in my mind that Jubei could take care of Nobunaga without any trouble.  I mean... his clan was so powerful... the Oni were meant to take care of the demons, but I think her apprehension was rubbing off on me a little bit. 

I looked to Magoichi for a little reassurance, but he just gave me a sideways look that said that he knew what I was thinking and that I was being foolish for thinking it.  That expression quickly changed, however, when the walls around us were rocked by a terrible explosion.  The noise of it tore through the castle and sent the stones shaking around us.

"What was that?!"  Oyu nearly shrieked.

"It sounded like it came from the tower!"  At least, that's where it sounded like it had come from.

Oyu was the first person down the corridor that we'd come from, leaving Magoichi and me trailing behind her.  We all ran as fast as we could, racing to get back to the tower where we'd left Jubei to fight on his own.  I ran up the stairs and out the door to the tower balcony.  But for all our rushing we were all forced to stop before we reached the bridge that led to the tower. 

While I'd never seen a demon gate before, I knew instantly that's what was hovering in the air a few feet from us, effectively keeping us from the tower where Jubei was.  The edges of the portal were burnt black and the pungent smell of sulphur was blasting up from it, forcing me to hold my breath as I looked closer, squinting to see what looked like a completely different world on the other side.

"What the hell is that doing here?"  I tugged angrily at Magoichi's arm to make him answer me, not really caring how scared I sounded.

"How the hell should I know!"  Magoichi said, brushing my hand away.

I looked back into the void, the glimpse of the demon realm on the other side put a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Dead trees stretched on for miles, the vague outline of mountains in the distance only adding to the desolate aura of the place.

My eyes swept over the red and black landscape, too horrified to keep looking and too afraid to look away.  There had to be a reason for the portal to be there.  Where was Jubei, or Nobunaga?  As I wondered about the samurai, my eyes were drawn to something that was moving on the horizon.  A figure that stood out against the endless ruins, whose aura drew me in like a moth to a flame and made me forget about everything else.

From a distance he looked human, but as I focused on him, the portal seemed to get closer so that I could then see he was anything but human.  His hair was stark white against his dark grey skin, but it was his aura that continued to stun me.  It pulsed with a blue glow that I could sense even from our vantage point.  Definitely not human.

He was standing still, his sword drawn and gaze focused on a large golden idol that towered over him.  It was an ugly statue, with with an obscurely wide base and long frame.  It had the form of a misshapen human, except for the few creative additions that the creator had thought to add in.  It had many mechanical parts that showed through the golden skin, making me think it looked more like a mechanical demon than a statue.  Along with this were two masks that hovered on either side of its head, each with its own grotesquely angry expression that added to its chilling appearance. 

The demon energy pouring off of it told me that it was alive, despite how completely un-alive it looked.  I almost felt that I could reach out and touch the freakish aura that was thickening the air with each passing moment.  The idol pulsed with life, just as the tower had, and anything else that had the demons' taint on it.  It seemed to be made of living tissues, but the mechanical parts that protruded in places told me it wasn't of this world. 

The only thing I could think of at that moment was how glad I was that I didn't have to fight it.

The two figures stood there, their auras becoming stronger and stronger until the white-haired demon's power surged and he made the first attack.  His sword cut deeply into the golden body, but the statue didn't seem to react to the injury, instead it built up a powerful energy attack of its own.

"What the hell is that?!"  I yelled as it unleashed a flame attack, covering the ground by the demon's feet in fire.

"It's Jubei," Magoichi said calmly before leaning down to pull some things from his pack.

"And my brother," Oyu finished.

"What?  That can't be Jubei!" I yelled at the gunman.  "Neither of those things is human!"  How did he know something like that?  Why did Oyu know but I didn't?

I stared at him as he unfolded his pack onto the ground, sorting through its contents and completely ignoring the fight.  I couldn't believe he'd find something more important to do at a time like that.

"He's transformed into an Onimusha," Magoichi said, never looking up from what he was doing. 

"An Onimusha... Jubei?"  I couldn't look away; it was the most incredible thing I'd ever seen, as far as battles go.  He gracefully avoided the fire and leapt forward again, swinging widely with his sword and landing another powerful blow.

I still couldn't believe Magoichi was ignoring this.  I leaned closer to him to tap his shoulder, never taking my eyes from the fight as Jubei held out his hand and fired some sort of energy blast.  The light tap I'd intended for Magoichi reflexively turned into a harsh punch when I saw Jubei get knocked backwards as spirals of rock shot up from glowing sores in the ground.

"What, Kotaro?!"  Magoichi asked, angrily rubbing his shoulder where I'd hit him.

"Sorry!"  I said, leaning over to try and get a better view.  "Why aren't you watching this?"

He didn't answer right away and I peered over his shoulder to see what was so interesting.  (Patience was never one of my virtues.)  His pack was completely unraveled in front of him, every tube of powder open and spread around.  He was working on taking apart several large guns, carefully putting their pieces into groups on his unraveled pack.

He was unbelievable!  "How can you be thinking about gun maintenance at a time like this?!"

"It's not maintenance!  I can't stand here and do nothing!"  He angrily unscrewed a section of one rifle, only to attach it to another, longer section.  He cursed as a spring slipped from his fingers and fell into a pile of gunpowder.

"What the hell do you think you can do?  We're too far away.  Even your guns can't reach-"

"They'll reach," he snapped, carefully fishing the errant spring from the explosive powder.  "I've just got to make some modifications..."  His hands flew over the metal parts, picking each piece up with ease and fitting them together in swift motions that could only come with years of experience.

I watched him for a bit, but my attention was again drawn out to Jubei as Nobunaga's monstrous form put out another attack, sending beams of light across the ground, barely missing the Onimusha.

I leapt up from Magoichi's side, leaning further over to see what happened.

"Ohh boy," a familiar voice boomed from behind us.  I turned quickly only to see the monk from Imasho, Ekei, standing behind us.  Had he come to help Jubei too?  "This sure is some great fight, eh?"    He was grinning widely, his eyes dancing with excitement.  Nothing seemed to faze him, even the battle that would decide the fate of Japan.

"Yeah, great," I smiled, looking away from him to see what Nobunaga was doing again.  I could only ignore him for two seconds before his heavy arm came to rest on my shoulder and he leaned on me, fully enjoying the battle. 

Jubei was slowing down some.

"Jubei!  Watch out!" He bellowed as Nobunaga took another swing at him.

"I don't think he needs your advice right now," Magoichi said, looking up at the monk for a second.

Ekei looked at Magoichi as if he'd just noticed him there.  His eyes grew wide when he saw what the gunman was doing, and his mood changed instantly in that second.  "What the hell are you doing, traitor?!!"

"Making a big gun," Magoichi said matter-of-factly.  "What does it look like?  I can't get down there to help..."

"Oh no you don't," Ekei shouted, pulling his hozoin spear from his back.  "I won't let you kill Jubei with that thing!"

"Jubei?" I interrupted, sliding around the monk to put myself between him and Magoichi.  "But, he's going to shoot Nobunaga."

"Don't be a fool," Ekei shouted, saliva flying into my face along with his words.  "He's a spy for the demons!  He's doing all this for gold!"

I looked at him queerly, half-turning my body from him just in case he snapped on me too.  "Are you... mad?" 

"No, he's just really loud," Magoichi said, standing with a rifle that looked like a mix of a few of his larger guns.  The barrel reached farther than anything I'd seen him use, and the trigger had been put on the side as well, but that could have been to make room for the oddly shaped device attached to it.  "Alright, time to see if this baby can do the trick!"

He walked past us, ignoring Ekei, to what I suppose he thought was a good spot to shoot.  I looked back to Ekei who was nearly turning red, his mouth twisted in anger.  "I won't let you kill Jubei!"

For a brief moment I wondered if that was how I'd sounded when I'd doubted Oyu.  I couldn't have sounded so thick-headed.  "Magoichi isn't an enemy!"  I yelled, rushing to put myself between the monk and the gunman again.

"Why are you defending him?  Did he charm you into trusting him?"  Ekei swung his spear above his head in an angry flourish before aiming it over my shoulder at Magoichi.

"Ekei, it's true," Oyu tried to step in, putting a hand on the spear.  "We're only trying to help stop Nobunaga!"

"You too?" He looked at her, shocked.  "Pretty girl, he's been lying to you!  Do you think a man like that would do anything that wasn't for money?  Nobunaga is paying him a lot of money to do this!"

"Shut up!"  I shouted, pushing the spear away from us.  "You don't know anything!"

"It's true!  He's made you trust him so you wouldn't stop him until it's too late!  He was never trying to help Jubei!  Everything he does is for the gold that Nobunaga promised him!"

Oyu didn't say anything, and when I looked over to her I could see the uncertainty on her face.  "Don't believe him, Oyu!  What does he know?"

"I-I'm not sure," she said.  "I don't know what to do.  My brother would do something like that, but... I just don't know..."

"Step aside so I can stop him from killing Jubei!"  Ekei yelled, swinging his spear wildly at us. 

Oyu ducked out of the way, but I was tired of dodging and met his blow with my kunai.  "Don't do this," I warned, my blade scraping against his spear.  He had a wild look to his eye and I wondered where he'd gotten the idea that Magoichi couldn't be trusted.  I chanced a look over my shoulder to see what was taking Magoichi so long to shoot, but the gunman was having trouble with his creation.  "Magoichi, what's the holdup?"

"Egh, it's stuck!"  He cursed and fumbled with a tube of gunpowder, spilling it on the ground.  "Damn!"

The same word, along with a few other colourful ones, coursed through my mind as I turned back to the monk, readying my weapon.  This would be interesting.

When he came at me, it was at full strength.  I would have dove out of the way, but Magoichi was behind me and I had to meet the monk head on instead.  My kunai caught his spear, diverting it into the ground and forcing all of Ekei's bulk to come down on me instead.

I knew he was bigger and I knew it would hurt, but I didn't know the impact would re-open my wounds from my fight with Ginghamphatts' legs.  I could feel the air leave my lungs as I hit the ground flat on my back.  I gasped and tried to a take a breath, sharp pain coursing through my arms where the gashes had started bleeding again.  While I was down, Ekei pulled his spear free and aimed it at my body.  I looked up at him, holding my breath to try and keep from gasping weakly.  He was aiming right for my heart.  I had to move, but it was so hard.  I could only look up to his eyes, staring blankly at him while I tried to get some air back into my lungs.

His expression softened a bit, before he looked over at Magoichi again.  He began to walk over to him, seeming to have forgotten about me, but I jumped up and got between them again.  I shook my head at him, "N-No!"  I gasped, finally taking in a lung-full of air, hands bloodied as I held my kunai up to block him.  "I won't let you!"

"Damnit boy, get out of the way!"  He swung his spear wildly at me.

"Knocking me down won't stop me, you'll have to kill me!  I won't betray him, no matter what you say!"

His eyes narrowed, flicking between me and Magoichi.  "Could it be that you're working for Nobunaga too, boy?"

I shook my head, "That's ridiculous!  Where did you get your information?"

"It doesn't matter!"  He bellowed, "If you're not with me, then you're against me.  My honour won't let me fail!"

"My honour won't let you succeed!"  I stood my ground, breathing normally again.  Given the situation I would have thought that I'd be more on edge, but I was instead overcome with a strange calm.   "I'd rather die than let you kill him, so stop talking and come at me if you really believe what you're saying!"

He just glared at me, his spear wavering for a second.

"Hey, Ekei!"  Magoichi called out, "If I was working for Nobunaga, do you think I'd do this?"  He raised his gun, bracing the butt of it against his shoulder and bringing the barrel up to aim it.  I could see his muscles straining under the weight, but that didn't matter as he pulled the trigger, firing a massive blast towards the battle between Jubei and Nobunaga.

The shot blasted a hole deep into the side of Nobunaga's body.  The demon-machine staggered and I held my breath as it gave Jubei the opening he needed.  The Onimusha saw it too and flew for it, swinging his sword in a flash of power that sent sparks of light flying around him.

The two masks that were floating on either side of the statue shattered as the head of the statue was destroyed.

I stepped forward to get a better view by Magoichi.  I sensed Oyu standing near us, and Ekei even edged closer until he was resting heavily on my shoulder again, as if he hadn't tried to kill me moments before.  We watched silently as the golden idol crumbled to the ground, Nobunaga's voice echoing through the gateway as it cursed Jubei for defeating him.  Then the gateway began to glow, closing itself off from our world.   It spun onto its side, as if shaking Jubei free from its hold and he fell through the opening, past the bridge in front of us and further below onto one of the lower sections of the tower.

Oyu rushed to the edge, calling his name, but it didn't seem as if Jubei had heard her and instead took off at a dead run.

"Looks like he's in a hurry," Ekei laughed, "But he beat Nobunaga!  I guess I was wrong about you, Magoichi!"  He reached around me to smack the gunman in the arm.  Magoichi rolled his eyes.

"This calls for a celebration!  Little lady, would you like to try some delicious foreign booze?"  He pulled a bottle with a strange label and showed her.

Oyu wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"Magoichi, what about-"

"No," he cut the monk off.

Ekei turned to me with a gleam in his eyes.  "What about you?  Have some, to make up for me trying to kill you!"

"Uh," I stammered.  It did sound interesting.  "What is it?  Maybe just a sip..."

"Kotaro, it's called Vodka," Magoichi grinned with a warning look, "And I'm almost positive you'd be better off saying no."

"What's wrong with-?"  Ekei began to protest, but quickly seemed to change his mind.  "Oh, well, don't say I didn't offer!  That leaves more for me! Hee-hee!"

I would have liked to try it, but the smell on Ekei's breath after a drink felt like it might have burned my eyelashes off and I inwardly thanked Magoichi for saving me.

"Ahh, this is great!  There is nothing left to worry about; Japan is safe!"  He took another drink, wiping his mouth and smiling widely.

"Not quite, baldie," Magoichi said, seriously.  "Nobunaga sent his army out before his fight with Jubei.  It's heading out to destroy what they can, including my village..."

"Well, I guess we'll have to stop them, then!"  He laughed.  "I made a very valuable contact the other day.  He's helping me to realize my dream to become a lord!  With his help we can take care of that army.  Ekei will save the day again!"

"What are you talking about, idiot?  You didn't save the day the first time," Magoichi huffed and I stifled a laugh.

Luckily Ekei didn't hear me and kept going on about how, if it wasn't for him, that Nobunaga would be leading his army at that very moment.

I listened for a bit, but his words began to mesh together in a long droning sound of mumbling as my vision began to waver.  I couldn't really focus on what was being said and suddenly felt so weak.  I looked down at my arms, realizing that my wounds really were more serious than I'd originally thought.  In hindsight it was probably a bad idea to try and save time by using a small healing powder in the tower.  My arms were bleeding really badly and I was feeling faint.  I tried to cover them up, but only managed to push more dirt into the cuts as my knees buckled and I started to fall forward.

I waited to hit the ground, but it didn't come.  I was caught on my way down and instead eased against someone's chest.  "Magoichi..."

"Hell, Kotaro, why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"  I cracked my eyes open, blearily seeing him hovering over my face.

"Let me have him, I'll heal him up!"  I heard Ekei's booming voice command Magoichi and I was laid on the ground.  I tried to tell him that I was fine, but the loud monk just hushed me up and kneeled beside me.  He held my right hand up, quickly putting something on my arm before tightly wrapping it up with bandages.  I winced when he tied the knots extra tight, then felt him doing the same to the other arm, and despite the tightness of the bandages, I started to feel better.  He then pressed something against my lips and I cracked an eye open to see what it was, opening my mouth to tell him I was fine, but he just pushed the healing herb past my lips when I did.  "I, uh, I'm sorry, kid," Ekei stuttered, as I chewed on the tasteless, dried leaves.  He was speaking so quietly I wasn't sure if he was the same man from before, as I'd never heard Ekei speak lower than a shout.  "I didn't want to hurt you so badly.  Hell, I didn't even think I'd cut you!"  He laughed, "I guess I really am the master of the spear of the Hozoin!"

"Ginghamphatts did that, baldie," Magoichi called over from where he was standing with Oyu.  "All you did was knock him over a few times."

That seemed to raise the volume of Ekei's voice again, because he went from whispering apologies to me, to loudly telling Magoichi he was an idiot.  They bantered back and forth for a while, and I took the time to regain some of my strength; the herb doing its job well.  By the time I was able to climb to my feet without feeling dizzy, they were going all out; insulting everything from each other's parentage to the type of alcohol they drank.

I noticed Oyu edging away from them, looking from Ekei to Magoichi to the entrance that led to the lower levels.  She noticed me and gave a weak smile.  "I-" she said quietly, interrupting Ekei and Magoichi mid-insult.  "I'm very sorry, but I need to go.  I'm worried about my daughters... and my brother's army..."

Again, Ekei changed his tone in a heartbeat and rushed towards her, taking her hands into his and apologizing for keeping her waiting.  "I'm so sorry, pretty lady.  I won't keep you any longer!  Hey!  I'm going the same way as you, we should travel together!  A pretty lady like you needs a man to protect her from demons, or any humans out there that would try to hurt you!"

"I can take care of myself," she huffed, giving him a look that promised him pain if he said it again.

"Of course you can, my dear!"  Ekei laughed, resting his spear in the ground so he could lean on it.  "But it would be good for us to team up anyways, don't you think?  Together we could fight whatever demons we find along the way!"

Her eyes flicked up to mine, and I didn't have time to hide the smile on my face, so instead I winked at her.  She'd have a tough time getting rid of him, and would probably have him following her the whole way home. 

I was glad that he hadn't taken a liking to me instead.  I shuddered at the thought.

"Well, I hate to run," Ekei waved at us, "But I've got a lovely lady to escort back to her family!"  He flipped his spear under his arm with a flourish before turning and walking away. 

Oyu bowed deeply, "Goodbye, Kotaro, Magoichi.  I'm glad to have met the both of you."  She turned to leave, but paused and turned back, bowing again, "Thank you so much for everything!"  Then she turned and followed the monk into the tower, leaving me with Magoichi.

The gunman came up behind me and turned me around to face him, "Are you sure you feel alright?"

"What?  Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?  You have no idea what went through my mind when I saw you collapse there..."  His hand trailed down my arm to the bandages.  "Before you go, maybe you should stay here to rest.  I have to do some things anyways, so you wouldn't be alone..."

"Really, Magoichi, I'm fine!"  I didn't want to have to sit around anymore, but he didn't seem to care about what I said.

He tightened his grip on my arm and pulled me back to where his pack was laid out.  "Just have a seat and wait while I put my guns back together.  I won't be that long."

I huffed, but didn't protest any more.  I was starting to realize that, with Magoichi, you had to read between the lines and hear the words he wasn't saying.  "How long do you think you'll be?"  Just because I understood what he really meant didn't mean I wouldn't get bored waiting.

"I'll let you know when I'm done," he said, leisurely taking apart the massive canon he'd made.

"Well hurry up!  You're taking too long."  He didn't say anything, but I heard him chuckling quietly under his breath. 

Well, fine, if that was how he wanted to do it.  I was in the mood to play anyways.

I climbed to my hands and knees, quietly crawling over to him as he took the barrel apart and put the different pieces into separate piles.  I'd never really worked with guns, and was fascinated by their inner workings as I got a closer look.  Magoichi still hadn't noticed me and I was right beside him looking over his shoulder.  It seemed that he wasn't as good at seeing through my stealth as he let me believe.

I waited for a bit, watching the seriousness in his face as his hands roamed over the parts, picking out the pieces he needed.

Then I got an idea.  It seemed like a good one at the time, and I couldn't help myself as I sprang to my feet and leapt at him while letting out a shout.  It was his fault; he was being too serious and I was way too bored to sit still for that long. 

I knocked him over so the both of us fell to the ground in a heap.  He cursed loudly and glared up at me strongly enough to make me think it had been a bad idea.  That feeling lasted for about two seconds before I grinned at him, "Gotcha!"

"Kotaro, what the hell are you doing?"  His hands shot up to hold me in place against him.  "I'm almost done, you can leave after that, okay?"  His grip tightened, meaning he wouldn't let me go until I promised to leave him alone.

"But I'm so bored!"

He sighed, loosening his grip, "If you stay quiet," he started, a wolfish grin spreading across his handsome features, "I'll reward you for your patience."

"Hmm," I pretended to think, but his grip tightening told me to stop playing around.  "Alright, alright, I'll wait.  Geez, I didn't know you didn't have a sense of humour, Mago!"

He bristled at the nickname but said nothing.  That was him; man of few words as he rolled me off of him and went back to fiddling with his guns.  I understood how people could mistake him for a cold bastard.  Luckily I knew that he'd warm right up after he'd finished what he was doing.

All I had to do was wait... but I hated waiting.

Instead of sitting still, I wandered away, deciding that exploring the tower might be more interesting.  It was the tallest one of the castle and there had to be some interesting things lying around.  At least, that would have been a safe assumption if humans had been living there.  The demons, on the other hand, hadn't bothered to do anything to keep it looking nice at all.  It was a real same too.  I slid the doors open to a room not too far away and was surprised to find some of the furnishings had been left alone.  It seemed to be some sort of room where people would rest, or meditate, or whatever it was that wealthy families kept rooms like that for.  Probably where they performed all their fancy tea ceremonies.  All I knew was that there were still many soft-looking cushions and cloths lying around that made me want to curl up and sleep.  I found a few chests tucked under tables or behind chairs, but they didn't really have anything interesting in them; just some dusty books that Magoichi would probably trade his left arm for. 

While exploring the rest of the room something at the other end caught my eye and I wandered over to look.  What reminded me of a Buddha statue was carved into a niche in the wall, only this one's upturned hand was glowing a soft red.  At first I thought it was a jewel, but when I got closer I could feel it was something else entirely.  I reached out to touch it, but my hand passed through the light, as if it wasn't really there.

"They're souls," Magoichi said behind me.  "They're on a different plane of existence right now, but since they're concentrated in the statue you can see them."

"Oh," I said, more as an acknowledgment that he'd spoken than anything else. 

"Still bored?"

"Not really."

"That's too bad, I was going to help you find something interesting to do."  I heard him drop his pack and guns behind me.  He didn't say anything else, stepping up behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders and pulling me back against his body.  I repressed a shiver when I felt his warm chest on my bare back.

He started off slow, and I don't know if it was better that way or not.  I'd been wanting this for a long time, but since I'd met Magoichi, I really started to understand why.  Well, I think I was starting to understand.  His lips against my neck set my eyes to drift shut and I consciously or unconsciously tilted my head to give him better access.  Really, I wanted him to just keep doing what he was doing, but it seemed that anytime I moved to give him better access, he'd take advantage of it and push harder. 

Not that I minded, but if I liked him licking my neck, then I wanted him to keep doing it for a while, and not move to my earlobe... although it did feel better than my neck.

After everything we'd been through with Gogandantess and trying to kill Nobunaga, I needed this; to let him do what he wanted.  After all, it was what I wanted too.  Magoichi nibbled harder after a while, alternating between tongue and teeth and playing with my senses.

I couldn't hold back a gasp when his hands started roaming over me, and that seemed to spur him on to be more aggressive.  They traveled down my arms before quickly meeting across my bare stomach, tickling me and distracting me from his mouth.  I'd always been ticklish, although I hadn't been touched like that in years.  I giggled a bit, squirming back against his body and right against a familiar hardness.  I ground back against it, smirking when he groaned into my ear and gripped my waist more firmly.  It seemed like he'd been waiting a while for it too.

He was still moving too slowly for my liking, though, so I put my hands over his and guided them over my body, first bringing his right hand up to my chest.  Once it was there he didn't waste any time going for my nipple, rolling it between his fingers and exciting me more than it should have.  I reached up and tried to do the same to my other nipple, but anything I felt there was overpowered by the strength and warmth of his hand on the nub he was fingering.  I gave up pretty quickly trying to match him and just rested my head against his neck and enjoyed the feeling.  As his fingers worked wonders on my chest, I could feel myself hardening, and suddenly I wanted a bit more attention from the hand that was still resting patiently against my belly.  Without a word I gripped that hand, guiding it lower until it was resting on the waist of my leggings.  I resisted pushing his hand further and instead left it resting there, praying that he'd reach further down on his own.

He didn't move his hand.  He didn't even speed up what he was doing and just lazily twisted my nipple between his fingers, his head bent over my neck and nibbling at my collarbone.

"Mmm, Magoichi?"  I moaned, pushing against him and rubbing against his cock as it pushed against my ass.  How the hell could he take his time?

"Shhh," he whispered in my ear as he bit my earlobe.  "Trust me on this, I know what I'm doing."

"I'll bet you do," I whined, unable to keep the hint of impatience out of my voice.  "But... could you go a bit faster?"  If he didn't touch my cock soon...

"Hmmm," he licked my ear, running his tongue along the shell before trailing across my jawbone to my cheek.  "Are you sure you want that?"

"Stop teasing me!"  I ground back against him again to try and set him off.  My leggings, while designed for comfort, felt so tight at that moment that I just wanted to get rid of them.

A growl was my only response as his hand left my nipple and joined the other at the waist of my armour.  In one swift movement he pulled them down around my ankles, leaving me completely naked except for my feet.  I would have stepped out of them to finish the job, but a quick smack on my bottom pushed me forward into some pillows and he ripped the last of the clothing from my body.

I landed in some very plush cushions and had a hell of a time gaining any sort of purchase to turn myself over.  I kept sinking into them and that put me at a definite disadvantage when it came to doing anything to Magoichi.  Well, from my end, anyways.  He definitely had the upper hand while I was on my stomach.

He grabbed my leg and flipped me over so then I was sprawled out on my back and looking up at him, half-praying for mercy while my lower half was begging for more.  I ached to reach down and touch myself, just to alleviate a little bit of the pressure.  I could feel the pulse in my cock, saw it throbbing against my abdomen.

Magoichi was busy taking the rest of his clothing off, already bare chested and working on the ties on his trousers.  The dim light in the room illuminated his form beautifully.  It was the first time I'd seen him without a shirt and caught my jaw dropping as his bottoms slid down his muscled legs to his ankles.  His body was solid with muscle, flexing as he kicked his boots to the side and tossed the last of his clothing over his shoulder.   I watched him through half-lidded eyes as he moved, his cock erect and bobbing against his navel.  He looked down at me and I licked my lips in anticipation.

I kept my eyes on him, watching him while I spread my legs wider, lightly touching my cock with a finger and spreading the wetness around the head.  It wasn't enough, of course.  I would have loved to take matters into my own hands, but it would be over far too soon, and I knew it would feel so much better if Magoichi took care of it.  His hand was hovering over his own arousal, as if he was trying to resist copying my movements.  I wanted to stop and give him an opening to come in, but it was so hard to pull my hand away.  I wanted it so badly.  Wanted him.

My body was completely hot by then, blood buzzing quickly through my veins and travelling to the centre of my being.  I wanted, no, needed his body against mine.  "Magoichi," I moaned for effect, putting on a bit of a show for him.  "What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

"Kotaro..." his voice was husky when he said my name, and it was enough to make me even hotter for him (if that was possible).  After that, neither of us said anything.  He kneeled, climbing over me and leaning over to kiss me.  It wasn't delicate, or tentative, or anything that didn't say, 'I want you now!'.  It was his mouth trying to devour mine and mine trying to do the same.  I don't know where my hands were, absently rubbing his nipples, or holding his shoulders so he couldn't pull away from me.  It wasn't important.  All I was aware of was his closeness and the heat between us that kept rising and making me sweat, writhing, naked on those pillows with him on top of me.

My haze of pleasure was broken when I felt him shift our positions, vaguely aware of what he was doing until my legs were parted and he licked a finger before reaching down to push it into me.  I clamped down against the intrusion, half-enjoying it but unable to stop my body from resisting anyways.   He pulled away from me and moved lower between my legs, pulling his finger out to spit on it before pushing it back in.  I gripped my knees, pulling them as close to me as possible to let him finish preparing me.  I closed my eyes, laying back against the cushions and focusing on relaxing my body.  He pushed into me a third time and I forced my muscles to relax, focusing on the pleasure of his finger inside of me.  Eventually, one finger became to two, spreading apart inside of me, pushing in as far as they could, and every now and then something would happen that would make me cry out.  Something deep inside of me would go off and I couldn't help moaning when it did.  I looked down at Magoichi to find out what was happening, but he had the biggest grin on his face that told me he knew exactly what was happening.  "What was that?" I breathed.

"Like that, do you?" he asked, pushing inside me again and touching that spot that made me see stars behind my eyes.

I didn't trust my voice anymore and just nodded.

"You'll like it even better in a minute," he whispered huskily.  Two fingers became three and my head dropped against the pillows while he spread me even further apart.  I can't even explain it.  It was heaven.  I mean, I'd done things before, but nothing like this.  Magoichi pulled his fingers out of me and spat onto his hand before reaching down to spread the saliva across his erection.

He crawled up to me, kneeling between my legs and putting the head of his cock against my opening.  The concentration on his face was unwavering, and I felt myself tense up as I thought too much about it.  He pushed inside me and I inadvertently clamped down on him, making his eyes shoot open and sending shoots of pain through my body.

I thought he'd keep going, or yell at me, or something, but he just stopped, breathing very heavily with his head bowed.  After a moment he looked back at me with that same look of concentration, "Kotaro, you've got to relax.  I-I don't want to hurt you, but this feels so... oh, god, Kotaro..."

I nodded silently and relaxed against the pillows, steadying my breathing and focusing on the tip of his cock that was pushing inside me.  It felt so big, bigger than I knew it was.  I had to force myself to relax around it; focus on the pleasure and ignore the pain.  I reached down and grabbed my own arousal, softened from the pain, but that quickly changed as I stroked, doing what I knew worked best.  I wasn't even embarrassed when a moan escaped my lips.  It spurred me on, letting me focus on the feeling of him easing further into me.

Our eyes locked together as he slid inside, pressing deep until his hips were resting against my thighs and he let out a shaky breath.  I could feel his cock throbbing against my insides, and I pushed back against it, sending a surge of pleasure along my spine.  He let out a shaky laugh, "Ready?"

I nodded, letting go of my cock and holding onto my legs to pull them close to my chest.  He moved slowly at first, pulling out with the same care as he'd entered me, then pushing inside again.  It was excruciatingly slow.  His eyes never left mine.

He moved like that for a few minutes, his gaze never wavering as he stretched me wider and wider until he was sliding in and out of me with little resistance.  I clenched around him, but only because of the growl I'd get from him when I did.  It was like he was holding back an army with his will alone.  The look in his eyes burned into mine.  When he leaned down to kiss me, I was the one that reached up to pull him down.  I wrapped my legs around him, throwing my arms around his neck and holding him to me, trying to press as much of his body to mine as I could.  It felt like my body was on fire, every touch of his skin against mine stoking the flame within me to burn hotter.  His mouth covered mine with kisses, but it was lost in the mix of sensations that he was stirring in me.  My entire body, from head to toe, was living for him at that moment.  For his touch, his attention, and passion.  I wanted them all. 

Each thrust inward sent a fresh wave of pleasure through me, letting my cries reach higher than ever before.  Every outward stroke pulled the fibre of my being with it, nearly overwhelming me before he'd thrust in again with even more force.  He was speeding up his pace, movements becoming more hurried.  He was pulling out less, then driving into me with more force, then quickly repeating the movement.

I was losing my mind.  He broke the kiss between us, his face hovering inches away from mine as he continued.  In his eyes I saw the battle raging within him to keep going.  Seeing him like that, with his defenses completely down, broke something inside of me.  The raw emotion and instinct that I saw in his eyes was clear as day.  I couldn't stand it anymore; if I didn't do something...

There was a familiar tightening starting in my groin, spreading through my belly and quickly bringing me to the edge.  It took all my strength to relax, leaving me hanging on that precipice of release. 

Magoichi didn't slow down. 

"Magoichi," I moaned a warning, drawing out the last vowel of his name into a high-pitched, desperate wail.

I couldn't hold on.  I was losing the fight against my body.

Never once did I look away from him.  Our eyes stayed locked as his hand reached down to grab my arousal, squeezing me firmly and setting off an explosion deep inside me.  Shock waves spread throughout my body instantaneously, overwhelming my mind with release and I clung to him for support.  A choked out wail escaped my lips; I couldn't get enough air into my lungs before I would cry out again, and I couldn't stop screaming.  It felt like the feeling would go on forever.  I writhed beneath him, moving my hips with his thrusts to lengthen the moment and bring him to his climax as well.

I was dimly aware of him going rigid, my name pushed past his lips as I felt his cock pulse inside me.  It wrought havoc on my already over-stimulated entrance, every movement of his cock burning through the exhausted nerves.

I relaxed back against the cushions, holding Magoichi against me as the waves of our release subsided.  Eventually he pulled out of me and rolled onto his side next to me, reaching up to stretch and resting his head on his hands.  "So," he said after a long moment, staring up at the ceiling.  "I see you're feeling better."

"I told you I was!"  I said, turning over to face him.

"Yeah, you did, but you're stubborn.  You could have just been saying that."

"Why would I lie about that?"

"So I wouldn't worry?" he half-smiled.

"Yeah right," I mumbled.  I really had felt fine.  "Do you worry about me?"

"Only when I think you're going to get killed."

"Aah," I said, frowning.  "So not that often then."

"Actually, all the time," he laughed and I smacked him.  "Do you know what you're going to do now?" he asked, suddenly becoming serious and looking over at me with those deep-brown eyes.

"Find something to wear?"  I asked.  I didn't feel like wandering around half naked, since my ripped up vest wouldn't do much anymore.

"No," he tried to laugh.  "I'll help you fake your death so you don't have to go back to Fuma... but, well, did you think about coming with me to Saiga?"

The thought of not returning to my village didn't make me as sad as it should have.  I'd miss a few things, sure, but they really weren't that important to me.  No memory seemed to matter when I thought of what I could have if I just went with him.  I wouldn't have to go on missions to spy, or kill... if I didn't want to.  The thought of being trained to shoot a gun appealed to me too, although I'd see if I could find a smaller, hand-held gun, since those rifles were too big for my liking.  I made a sound of thought in my throat, pretending to think about it, even though my mind had already been made up the first time he'd asked.

"It depends," I started, waiting for him to roll over to face me.

"What?" he asked flatly.

"Can I have a gun?"

His face relaxed and he smiled, the emotion reaching his eyes and he beamed at me.  "You're a man after my own heart, Kotaro."

"That's not all I'm after!"  I winked and reached up to kiss him, pressing my lips to his and parting them with my tongue.

This kiss was different from the others; it wasn't hurried or rushed.  It felt just right.

Magoichi held me close until I fell asleep wrapped in his arms and coat that had found its way over to our makeshift bed.  When I woke up it was still dark out, and Magoichi was already dressed and ready to go.  "Ready?"

"Ugh, yeah," I mumbled, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and climbing to my feet.  "I need a second to get ready." 

The moon was hanging low in the sky and it poured in through an open window.  "The sun will be up in a few hours," I said, tying up the last of the clasps on my leggings and slipping into my sandals.  "What was the plan for my death?"

"I'll show you in a second," he said, waiting at the door for me with my ripped up vest in his hand.  "Are you sure this is what you want?"

His question was my last way out of going with him, but there was no way I'd give it up.  "Yeah."

Without a word he opened the door and walked through it.  I followed, pausing in the frame and looking back at the room we were leaving behind.  I hadn't forgotten to bring anything with me.  The smell of sex in the air and the indents we'd made in the cushions were the only things we were leaving behind.  We'd vanish into the night, without leaving a trace that we'd been there.  It would be the last thing I did as a ninja before leaving my old life behind. 

I took the final step through the doorway to stand beside Magoichi.  Without a word he turned and led the way, taking me out from the shadows and into the bright future I'd chosen to share with him.

 **~End Enemy of my Enemy~**


End file.
